Chasing Perfection
by Summer Huntress
Summary: After the devastating loss of her parents, Alex Gilbert is trying to put herself back together. But when she meets the dangerous Damon Salvatore and falls in love with him, her world changes drastically into a living nightmare. Only one thing is for sure, life will never be the same anymore. Damon/OC
1. Chapter 1: Pilot

**CHASING PERFECTION**

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Hello everyone! So before reading a story, you may want to know a few things about it first. This story is set on season 1 and hopefully will continue until season 6 and onwards, it depends on how you guys want me to continue. It will follow through each episodes, with a few modifications and add-ins, while including an OC Alexandra Gilbert. She is the younger twin-sister of Jeremy. With her being dragged into the mess, I daresay that this story will contain more twists especially when she starts to get drawn together with the icy-blue eyed vampire: Damon Salvatore. Like I said, although it will follow story line from the show, there will be a few modifications and add-ins which will make the fic different from other sisfics that has been done in this site!

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><p><strong>Note <strong>**— **This story is a rewrite of four chaptered fic under the same title. There were a few issues and I decided to rewrite and revise them with the help of my beta. This fic will soon contain more filler/original scenes, so make sure to never miss a thing!

**Disclaimer** **— **I don't own anything. Only the original characters, cover and anything you don't recognize.

**Special Thanks —** Slinky190 for willing to brainstorm and discuss about the plot points & Pandorathefirst for willing to be my beta for this story. Seriously thank you guys, this story will be nothing without the two of you!

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><p>Check out <strong>theroseofgilbert . tumblr . com<strong> for bios, pictures, gifs, Q&As and other stuff from the story.

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><p><strong>Chasing Perfection<br>**Season One**  
><strong>**Chapter 1****: **Pilot

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><p>It was an early Monday morning when summer has sadly and officially ended. Alex slowly woke up because of a bright light that shone in through the windows. There was a familiar figure standing next to her bed, it was her older sister, Elena. Alex yawned, still sleepy and decided to go back to sleep.<p>

"Hey, Alex, wake up. It's time for school." Elena whispered while shaking her shoulders to stop her from going back to sleep.

Alex mumbled quietly while trying to stop her sister from waking her, because her body was desperate for more sleep. She groaned and buried her head underneath the blanket to avoid her sister from shaking her shoulders again. It felt like she had a sleepless night, and it was way too early to wake up in such condition.

Elena sighed and once again shook her sister's shoulders to wake her up. "Alex, come on, we are going back to school. You don't want to be late for school, do you?"

It seemed like her sister won this time. Alex finally gave in and stiffly sat up on the bed, throwing the blanket off of herself. She squeezed her eyes to make them get used to the light, and saw her sister smiling. She couldn't help but to mirror the smile while slowly moving from the bed to tie her hair in front of the mirror where she saw the reflection of herself.

"Summer ended so fast," Alex let out a deep and frustrated sigh while looking for outfits in her wardrobe. "I still need my summer break." She turned away from the wardrobe to look at Elena.

"Yep, but… let's move on," Elena paused herself for a few seconds. "You know, bad things happened during summer, but I think we should get over it, Lex. It's a new day." She smiled at her sister reassuringly.

"Yeah, I know." Alex replied. She indeed had to move on. She knew it would be difficult, no, not simply difficult, but extremely hard. Especially hard, because it was about her parents; the two people who were there for her since she was just a baby.

Knowing her sister has left, Alex quickly made her way to the bathroom, before time somehow managed to slip through of her hands, which eventually made her late for school.

A few minutes later, Alex walked downstairs, heading to the kitchen along with her sister. They saw Jenna, who was busy in the kitchen. Ever since their parents died, Jenna has been the only person they could count on. She was always that person who would be busy just for them. "Hey, girls. Enjoy your coffees," their aunt, Jenna, automatically turned around when she noticed her nieces were there in the kitchen. But she was expecting someone else to be there as well. "Where's your brother?" She asked, furrowing her brows.

Both sisters exchanged glances before noticing, that Jeremy was walking past them reluctantly, as if he had no energy at all; just like his twin, whenever she woke up, but he was even worse than her.

"Well, the boy is here." Alex tilted her head making a face at her twin brother who was rolling his eyes sarcastically, and she replied with the same gesture. Her leg moved toward the table as she grabbed one of the served mugs. "Nice manners you have, twinnie, is walking past your sisters like nobody was standing there the best way for you to start the day?" She asked with false pain in her voice.

"Good morning to you too, kiddo." Jeremy greeted her with a weird and creepy grin which was enough to irritate her. He then hugged her for merely three seconds, and grabbed her mug and drank the whole thing in one. "It tastes nice."

"Excuse you, Jeremy Gilbert!" Alex glared at her twin, but she only received a light shrug and bitter ugly smile from her brother and it got on her nerves. "This is how you treat your twin sister?" She asked in disbelief.

Jeremy rolled his eyes again, taking his bag and put it over his shoulder, ready to leave for school before he received more scolds and flames from his twin sister. "I'm going to school now," he said to avoid the topic, his legs begun to move toward Alex and gave her a tight hug and ruffled her hair. And then spoke half heartedly before walking away to the door. "See you."

"See you, creepy man," Alex replied while watching him walk away.

"Hey, you are gonna be okay, aren't you?" Elena grabbed his arm knowing that he had been avoiding her most of the time, and whispered to him. Jeremy stopped for a few seconds and turned around only to reply her with "_don't start._" and then left the house quickly.

"He'll be alright, 'Lena. Don't worry." Alex convinced Elena while looking at her, feeling sorry for her and tried to think of a way, to make her sister feel better. She knew this family was no longer functional after their parents' death, but she tried to make it better, she always did.

"I don't know, I think he hates me." Elena and briefly looked back with a quiet frustrated sigh, grabbing her mug and drinking her coffee silently.

Jenna turned to see her nieces, wondering if they were okay with the new life without their parents. She also noticed that her nephew was troubled, unlike his twin sister who was still there to try comforting her older sister and fix everything.

"No, it didn't seem like he hate you. He is just troubled, Elena." Alex replied with a long sigh. "Maybe he was just furious that you don't like the idea of him dating Vicki Donovan." She tried to reason.

"Isn't it you who doesn't like her?" Elena frowned at her sister. Her face twisted between anger and irritation of hearing Alex not defending her in this case. She was feeling slightly hurt, disillusioned and disappointed at the same time.

"Well, okay, I don't like her. But you used to date this chick's brother and he didn't mind. Now you hypocritically disapprove of him being close to your ex sister in law?" Alex was definitely defending her slightly-older-twin brother right now, her voice was stern, and her gaze looked different. She took a deep breath and felt a twinge of guilt inside her heart for a few seconds after realizing that she was insulting her sister. And now she placed her palm and grabbed a fistful of her hair frustrated. "I, uh, I'm sorry. I'm becoming emotional randomly again, I'm really sorry, Elena." She said pleadingly.

Elena let out a deep breath, knowing her younger sister was also still a little bit mentally troubled after _everything_, just like her twin, despite the different ways of showing it. Not long after their little debate, they heard a car's horn outside their house. "I think that's Bonnie. Come on." Elena said while finishing her coffee together with Alex before they hugged their aunt.

"Bye, aunt Jenna." Alex said slinging her bag over her shoulder and grabbed two bottles of freshwater, one for her and another one for her sister.

In the car, the sisters once again waved at Jenna before leaving with their best friend. Bonnie smiled and started driving and headed to their school immediately. Elena was sitting on the front seat next to her friend while Alex sat on the back, leaning on the window and looked at the road through it. "Elena," she called her older sister softly, "Sorry."

"It's fine. Don't bring this up again." Elena turned back and smiled at her sister, as if she had forgot the whole conversation they had in the kitchen.

Alex smiled responding to her sister. "Alright."

"Is everything okay between you two?" Bonnie slightly glanced at both sisters, half-smiling, but still busy driving the car.

"Yeah," the youngest sister answered awkwardly, giving a slightly bitter smile. "Just a little family matter."

Suddenly, their conversations were cut off when a black crow hit the car. Bonnie quickly hit the brakes as the tires screeched loudly, and she stopped the car at the edge of the street. "Are you okay?" Bonnie asked, a little bit of panic evident in her voice because of what just happened.

"Yeah, I'm fine. How about you, Bonnie?" Elena asked back, concerned and then looked at her younger sister in the back seat, she seemed a little bit more panicked than they were. "How about you? And Alex, are you alright?" She asked worried.

"Totally." "Yeah." Both Alex and Bonnie replied at the same time. Elena only nodded at their answers.

"What the hell was that?" Alex gulped and almost freaked out—it was like her heart was no longer beating regularly. Her eyes were filled with shock.

"I think that was a bird. It came out of nowhere, I didn't see it coming." Bonnie informed, trying to calm both of them down. She breathed out once again, leaning her head onto the small pillow on the seat and restarted the engine and immediately drove them all to school. "We should really get back on the road before it's late." Bonnie concluded.

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><p>Alex got out of the car, grabbing her bag while sliding it on her shoulder, as she linked her arms with her older sister before they walking into the school-building together with their best friend, who drove them here. They smiled. It was actually good to be back to school after a long summer break, because there will be loads of gossips, parties and events that were waiting for them, and that was Alex's favourite part about school, the reason why she loved it.<p>

When the two were walking down the hall, an athletic guy came behind them and covered both of Alex's eyes with his hands. Elena turned around and was about to inform her sister about the guy, but he mouthed her not to tell Alex since he wanted to give her a surprise. "Who is this?" Alex asked while rubbing his hands, and she could only hear her sister's playful giggle. "Tyler?" She guessed.

Tyler finally let his hands away from her face, laughing softly at his girlfriend before cupping her face while rubbing it and led his lips onto hers. "I've missed you," he spoke softly after the kiss. Elena only smiled and backed off with Bonnie. "I will be with Bonnie. See you guys," she waved them goodbye.

"Okay, see you, 'Lena!" Alex literally half-shouted as she saw them waving their hands at her. She managed to wave back and continue walking with her boyfriend, Tyler along the hallway heading off to somewhere.

Bonnie was still smiling. "They are like the cuties I usually see in movies," she commented, accompanied with a light chuckle. "They look cute together."

"Agreed." Elena giggled while still walking along the hallway until they reached their lockers, where she saw someone she knew for a long time; her ex-boyfriend—Matt—and she waved at him. Too bad he ignored her. Elena could see how hurt he was in his eyes, before he shut his locker and walked away. "He hates me." She groaned, turning back around, avoiding finding him again, after he left a while ago.

"That's not hate. That's 'you dumped me, but I'm too cool to show it, but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's greatest hits.'" Bonnie contradicted her, saving her from feeling guilty and everything else. Behind them, they heard their familiar bestfriend's voice; Caroline. She looked beautiful with a wide grin, blonde straight short hair, natural but pretty make up and modern blue blouse that completed her perfect appearance.

"Elena! Oh my god." She literally exclaimed while coming closer to pull her bestfriend, Elena, into a hug. "How are you? Oh, it's good to see you." She let go of her and then turned to Bonnie. "How is she? Is she good?"

Elena looked at her bestfriend, and said. "Caroline. I'm right here. And I'm fine. Thank you."

"Really?" Caroline frowned slightly, "How about Alex?"

"Yes. Much better," Elena replied, "And she is fine too. Thank you again, Caroline."

"Oh, you poor thing." Caroline pulled her in for another hug to give her some support, between knowing and not knowing that she was acting about being fine. "Well, I gotta go, see you guys later?" She asked as she started walking away.

Both Elena and Bonnie nodded with a bitter smile plastered on their faces. "Yeah. See you."

The two best friends eventually continued walking together and passed by the administration office only to see someone was signing up. "Whoa, who's this guy..." Bonnie wondered as her eyebrows rose, watching him from the back. Elena followed Bonnie's gaze into the room, seeing the back of a tall, dashing and masculine guy standing near the administration table. "He is hot, isn't he?" Bonnie added without looking at her best friend yet while Elena's attention suddenly turned to her brother who was sneaking into the bathroom like he was hiding something.

"I'll be right back." She said, between aghast and anger, while walking into the male bathroom to get to her brother. That was extreme, but she couldn't just let him be.

"Please be hot, please be hot." Bonnie chanted, still looking at the back of the guy in the office.

Several guys were surprised to see Elena entering the male bathroom instead of the female one, but she ignored them all and immediately caught Jeremy using eye drops. She held his face—pinching his cheeks together in one hand—and looked directly into his eyes. "What have you done?" She asked protectively while still scanning his eyes to see if he was high. "Great. It's the first day of school and you're already stoned!" She said angrily.

"No, I'm not. I haven't done anything!" Jeremy denied, staring at his sister weirdly, trying to push her away from him but with no intention of harm.

"Where is it? Jer, tell me! Is it on you?" She kept asking questions, looking at him in a way that he didn't like, patting him down.

"Stop, all right?! You need to chill, all right?" Jeremy yelled sarcastically, this was the reason they didn't get along like he and his twin sister. She was protective and it was over the line. And he didn't like it.

"Chill? What is that, stoner talk? Dude, you are so cool." With full disgust, she hissed while patting him down once again, making him more upset.

"Stop it! I don't have anything on me, okay? I'm good! Are you crazy?" He asked getting angrier than she was.

"Good what? I gave you summer pass, but I'm done watching you destroy yourself. No, no, no, you know what? Go ahead, keep it up. But just know that I'm going to be there to ruin your buzz every time, got it?" She poked his chest angrily.

Jeremy was still watching how his sister talked, it was kinda annoying but he knew she was doing something she thought was right. He rolled his eyes, trying to escape but she was still blocking his way. She was still worried about him doing something bad or even worse. "Jeremy, I know who you are. And it's not this person, so don't be that person. And listen... if I know you're doing something real bad, I will make sure to give your twin a chance to watch over you and that's it." She said, not budging.

With that, she released her hands off his cheeks and glared at her brother like he was going to die within seconds in her arms. That didn't bother him, yet, he growled angrily while making his way leaving the bathroom. "I don't need these, I'm okay, I told you."

She sighed while rubbing her arms, and began to leave the male bathroom as well but unfortunately was bumping into this guy she saw inside the administrator's office. "Whoa," she said in aghast before he could say anything. She literally started to blush so bad that her face looked like a fully ripe radish.

"Uh, pardon me. Is this the men's room?" The guy asked with a charming friendly smile while staring into her eyes and he thought she looked exactly like someone he knew in the past but somehow different at the same time, yet he didn't regret coming here.

"Yeah, uh, I was just, um, it's a long story." She nervously replied, hanging on every word while smiling back at the guy—unfortunately she had to go. When she was going to shove past him, she failed as he went that way, unintentionally blocking her way. Understanding she needed to leave, he made a way for her before she left with one last glance for him. "Thanks," she mumbled, still slightly blushing.

"Let's see who is moving on," Alex suddenly came out of nowhere with a smirk plastering across her lips, teasing her older sister. "So, a new guy, huh? Nice." She said approvingly.

"Shut up Alex," Elena hushed and defended herself. "We only bumped into each other and apologised, that's it."

"Just kidding!" She replied with an amused grin, holding a few books in her arms while heading to their classes together before stopping in front of a door. "I gotta go, my class is here. Bye Elena, love you." She smiled at her sister lovingly.

"Love you too, Lex," Elena smiled back.

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><p><strong>Local Cemetery<strong>

Elena walked to see her parents' graves while holding four pieces of flowers. Her gaze turned to their grave stones where her parents names were written, and suddenly, she felt the hole inside her heart again, feeling the great loss of her parents. She smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile, it was a sad and bitter one, knowing that they were gone from hers, her sister's, and her brother's life forever. She placed two flowers on each grave before sitting nearby and opened her diary and wrote in it.

After writing in her diary, she saw a crow that was sitting on her parents' grave stones and fog started to ascend around the cemetery. She stood up, looking around and suddenly saw a figure standing behind a tomb which really frightened her. She stared to run but she didn't see the root of a tree that was in her way and she tripped and fell, her leg was slightly injured and when she got up, she saw the guy that she bumped into earlier today, was standing in front of her.

"Are you okay?" He asked while tilting his head slightly. Her face turned into a happy expression and she was blushing slightly, when she saw the new guy. "Were you following me?" She asked, breathless.

"No. I, uh, I just... I saw you fall." He stuttered, still looking at Elena.

"Uh-huh, and you just happened to be hanging out in a cemetery." Elena stated suspiciously about his statement.

"Well, I'm visiting, I have family here." He informed her with a gentle voice.

"Woah. Tactless. Uh... I'm sorry." She gulped before she continued talking, "It's the fog, it was creepy and there was this... this bird, and it was all very Hitchcock for a second. That is the bird movie, right, the Hitchcock?" She rambled on nervously.

There was a long pause, a moment where her eyes locked with his, but she broke the silence with an introduction of herself, being slightly nervous when her eyes met his. "I'm Elena." She introduced herself with a shy smile.

"I'm Stefan." He countered with a small chuckle, he lifted his hand up to Elena's hair, and pulled a leaf out.

Her eyes flickered to his fingers where he wore a big silver and blue ring with an S in the middle. "Thanks... Uh, nice ring."

"Oh. Um, it's a family ring. I'm kinda stuck with it. It's weird, huh?" Stefan chuckled while rubbing his ring.

"No, no. It's just, I mean, there are rings and then there's that." She explained tersely as he decided to ask something to change the subject.

"Did you hurt yourself?" He asked concerned.

"Hmm?" She asked, confused.

"Did you hurt yourself?" He asked again.

"Oh. I don't know. Uh," She rolled up her jeans and found a bleeding wound, which caused Stefan to turn around, since his face started to deform into something inhuman. No, he can't be like this in front of her—it's a secret he needed to keep from everyone, including this girl, no matter how she looked like someone he knew in the past. "Oh god. That is not pretty." She said but was confused when she saw Stefan suddenly turning around and looking away. "Um, are you okay?" She asked him, slightly concerned.

His eyes started to change. He was still trying to calm himself down and resist his blood craving at the moment. "You should go, and take care of that." He breathed.

She looked at her leg again and then she looked up only to notice Stefan wasn't there any longer. "Really, it's noth—" She stopped.

"Stefan?" She called out but no answer. Knowing that he left, she sighed and decided to go home to bandage her wound.

Arriving home, she was welcomed by her aunt with questions about her leg that was wounded. She immediately grabbed a bowl of hot water and a piece of cloth. "What happened with your leg, Elena?"

"I tripped and fell. Where is Alex?" She asked, diverting the attention away from her leg.

"I thought you're going to the grill with her," Jenna looked at her niece and down to her leg, seeing the wound on it, and immediately dipping the cloth into the bowl of water, rubbing it onto her wounded leg.

"She is at the grill?" Elena winced when the cloth touched her leg. "And no, I didn't go there... only the cemetery. I think I should see Alex."

"You're wounded." Jenna reminded her, gesturing to her wounded leg.

"It's okay, Aunt Jenna. I just want to check on her. Please?" She looked at her aunt with her puppy eyes.

"Alright, does it feel better?" Jenna asked calmly while she kept cleaning out the wound. Her eyes weren't focusing on her niece when she replied. "Yes, it's—"

Elena was cut off when she heard that someone was knocking on the front. Hearing this, Jenna immediately dropped the bowl on the table and checked who was coming. "I'll go check on it, you stay here." She declared, opening the door only to see a young male was standing in front of her, with a charming smile. It was Stefan. "Excuse me, is Elena Gilbert here?" He asked politely.

Jenna made no reply but started smirking and immediately called out her niece to come over. "Elena!"

Hearing her name, Elena stood up on her own and slowly but surely, approached her aunt and stood right next to her. "What is it?" She asked.

"Sorry, I wanted to apologise for me disappearing earlier. I know it was... strange." He explained calmly, receiving a shy smile again from her as soon as Jenna left the two alone in their own world.

"No worries. I get it, blood makes you squeamish." She joked.

"Um, something like that. How's your leg?" He gestured to her leg that was injured a while ago.

"It's fine. Barely a scratch. How did you know where I lived?" She asked suspicious, narrowing her eyes at him.

"It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw. Um, I thought you might want this back." He said, handing Elena her diary.

"Oh, I must have dropped it. Thank you." She smiled shyly while brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

"Don't worry, I didn't...read it." Stefan assured with a smile on his face, gesturing to the diary book.

"No? Why not? Most people would have." Elena asked with a teasing grin, trying to broke the awkward thing between the two of them. Stefan looked down at his feet, "Well, I wouldn't want anyone to read mine."

"You keep a journal?" She asked another question with a flat expression waiting for him to respond.

"Yeah, if I don't write it down, I forget it. Memories are too important." He shrugged.

"Yeah. I'm just gonna... umm, you don't have to stay out there." Elena told him while running upstairs to her room. Stefan was scanning the door, somehow he couldn't enter the house. "I'm fine. Sorry, were you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm going to check on my sister and probably meet some friends. Do you wanna come?" She asked.

Both of their eyes met and locked again, her brown eyes were staring at his, very carefully and unknowingly. A smile rose on both of their lips. It was almost too perfect. "Sure." Stefan let out a chuckle as she smiled. "Okay." She said, still smiling.

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><p><strong>Mystic Grill<strong>

Alex leaned back on a chair at the grill. Beside her there was her boyfriend and around her were her friends. They were all discussing random topics that came out from their minds that time. At the same time, she captured someone suspicious wearing a black shirt who just entered the grill and walked to the bar making her curious. "Alex?" Tyler called, making sure that she was actually fine because he was aware that she didn't pay attention to the conversation anymore. "Uh, yeah, sorry." Alex gulped looking at him, aghast, worried.

"How's Elena doing?" Matt questioned, his face was twisted in hope but his voice sounded like he was worried.

"Her mom and dad died. How do you think she is? She's putting on a good face, but it's only been four months." Bonnie replied and this time turned her face to see Alex who was frozen for a few seconds.

"Oh, guys, come on. Not this conversation again." Tyler rolled his eyes while comforting his girlfriend, rubbing her back gently. He eventually kissed her on the head. Alex looked up at him, with a shy smile playing across her lips.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but has she said anything about me?" This time Matt asked the sister with a hopeful look.

"Oh, no. I'm so not getting in the middle. You pick up the phone and call her." Alex replied simply holding her hands up while shaking her head, trying to convince him to call her sister instead of keeping asking about her to any of her friends and then ignore her whenever she was around.

"I feel weird calling her. She broke up with me." Matt protested.

"Well, then. You should give her more time." With that, Alex let out a deep sigh and grabbed a glass of tequilla, forcing the content down, before she noticed Elena who came with the new guy, and was looking around like a lost puppy.

Matt stood up; they could feel that he was tensed. "More time huh?" He hissed walking over to his ex girlfriend and her new friend or boyfriend, _perhaps_.

Alex raised her brows, looking around again and searched for the guy she saw earlier but he was gone without a trace, she didn't even notice. **Where the hell did he go?**

"Hey, I'm Matt, nice to meet you." Matt came to them while introducing himself, he felt awkward, but he had to face this.

"Hey. Stefan." Stefan replied calmly, introducing himself back in return.

"Hey," Elena greeted as soon as they were done introducing themselves.

Matt looked over his ex, returning her greet, before leaving them. "Hey."

"Well, that was awkward." Alex commented, her eyes were watching Matt in worry, wondering if he would be fine with all these things. Then her eyes met with the new guy's eyes that were watching her the whole time, she leaned back as he came closer to sit. He thought that she also reminded him of someone he knew in the past. **She looks exactly like Serene**, he mused.

"So, you were born in Mystic Falls?" Caroline questioned and it distracted his thoughts. Stefan immediately turned to her and gave an answer. "Mm-hmm. And moved when I was still young."

"Parents?" Bonnie questioned tersely, being extremely curious about this new guy.

"My parents passed away." Stefan replied.

"I'm sorry. Any siblings?" Alex wondered.

"None that I talk to. I live with my uncle." Stefan replied still with his charming smile he usually showed in front of the girls.

"So, Stefan Salvatore, if you're new, then you don't know about the party tomorrow, right?" Caroline asked after glaring at Elena whom Stefan was smiling at, she was just insecure about Elena and her popularity amongst the guys.

"It's a back to school thing at the falls." Bonnie explained to Stefan with a smile but he didn't move his gaze from Elena yet. "Are you going, Elena?" Stefan asked, ignoring everyone around him, smiling over and over again.

"Can't miss it." Elena faked a pout and giggled.

Alex watched how her sister interacted with Stefan. It was so different. There was this feeling she had about them being together and she thought they were romantically being involved. She couldn't help but to smile at their cuteness, resting her head onto Tyler's chest as he was still accompanying her, although he actually wanted to leave.

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><p>After an hour of getting her make-up and hair done, Alex was trying to decide what to wear for the party. There was her older sister in her room, drying her hair while looking at Alex who was holding a dress out while looking into the full length mirror. "Did you look into his eyes?" Alex said unbelievably while rolling her eyes and started getting changed into her party outfit.<p>

"Who?" Elena asked while slightly looking at her younger sister, and guessed. "Matt?"

"Yeah." Alex said, adjusting her pretty, party dress.

"Not really, why?" Elena asked.

"He looks like he is hoping to get you back."

"Nope, he doesn't." Elena held her hands up before walking to the door and headed to her own room, but saw someone athletic was already standing in front of the door, surprising her. "Oh, Tyler. You scared me. My heart almost stopped beating."

"Sorry," Tyler smiled. His jaw suddenly broke open when he saw his girlfriend in that dress, that wasn't too long before he rushed toward her and hugged her. "Look at you." He smiled playfully to tease her.

"I'll be in my room." Elena smiled seeing them together.

"Wait, who are you going to the party with?" Alex stopped her sister before leaving, her hands were still on Tyler's shoulder.

"Bonnie." Elena answered with another smile. "You can go."

Nodding, both Tyler and Alex quickly walked down the stairs and left the house to his car, heading to the party venue that wasn't far from the area. When the car was away from the house, she could see another car stopped in front. "I think that's Bonnie." Alex said tersely while looking back to the road.

"Yeah, although she hoped that Stefan would pick her up or maybe her ex would come." Tyler scoffed driving ahead to the venue and she rolled her eyes, hitting him on the arm. "Tyler!"

"Hey! Alright, sorry. I was just kidding, you know me." Tyler said, giving a flat nonchalant expression but still pleading for her to forgive him for what he said.

"You are not cool, Ty. Stop making jokes about her, she is my sister."

Tyler nodded and chuckled softly, and begun to pinch her cheeks with his right hand while his other hand was on the stirring wheel. "Tyler! Stop pinching me! Ty!" Alex laughed softly but then her happy expression faded when she saw a man in black was standing in front of the car. "Ty, watch out!" She shrieked.

He stopped the car immediately by hitting the brakes, luckily they didn't hit anything, so they didn't get hurt after all. "Are you okay?" Tyler questioned in concern. "Who was that? Where is he? Did we actually hit him?"

"I have no idea... and yeah I'm okay. Are you?" Alex breathed out uncomfortably, rubbing his shoulder.

"Yeah, let's get back to the road." Tyler stated while driving away onto the road.

When the two arrived at the venue, they got out of the car, seeing a few teenagers were already crowding the area which was already decorated with bright lights and several drinks served on the tables. -"I'm gonna get some drinks. Wait here." Tyler smiled while walking away, grabbing two glasses of drinks a little bit farther from where she stood.

"Hey." Someone came beside her with a simple masculine look as always, and the charming friendly and kind smile most women would fall in love with. Alex let out a heavy breath since he had scared her with his silent and quick approach. "Next time, don't do that, ever again."

He looked down to his shoes and then immediately looked up with another charming smile. "Yeah, sorry." He chuckled and narrowed his eyes. "Have you seen Elena?"

"She's on the way. I came way too early." She shrugged lightly and smiled at Stefan. "You know, she was in a rough shape."

"Yeah, I know. She looks uneasy, unhappy. I think I can help her with that." He said nodding lightly. "I'm going to get myself a drink. Have fun."

"Okay." Alex smiled watched him walk away from her as Tyler approached. She was really amused at the fact that Stefan was all the good guy, and he'd never been the bad guy like what she thought at first impression. "You're talking to the guy who was the reason of Matt being upset? Really, Alex?" Tyler protested.

"Don't start." She sighed looking deeply into his eyes.

"Let's just get out of the crowd. I'm bored here," he told her while handing her the cup of drink and pulled her hand into the woods and both stopped near the big tree. "You know what, I feel worried about you. Are you fine with everything? I mean all the dealing with your parents stuff, are you okay?"

Alex gulped down the drink—looking up to the sky as she did so. She only nodded answering his question since she didn't like talking about it.

"Woah, you finished it real quick," he smirked and started kissing her, slowly and softly, but the innocent kiss soon turned into a passionate and deep one. But they stopped when they heard a voice of a crow nearby, and seen the fog that encircled them. "What the hell?" Tyler backed off, looking around.

"Someone help!" They both heard a familiar voice call out and the crowd was very noisy talking about something that has happened, until Alex realized that it was her sister's voice.

"That's my sister, come on, Ty!" She said, grabbing his hand and making their way to leave the woods, to go back to the crowded venue. They saw Jeremy and Elena were carrying Vicki. Matt, Vicki's brother, came over and helped the two with carrying his little sister. Tyler was also panicked, "Wait, Alex. I think I should help them."

She nodded approvingly in concern and still watching from the back.

"What happened?" Matt questioned, and a second later he yelled as if being extremely worried about his sister. "What the- somebody please call an ambulance!"

Alex eventually shoved past everyone to see Vicki and gasped in shock. "Oh my god.. it's her neck! Something bit her. She is losing a lot of blood."

"Vicki, come on. Open your eyes, look at me." Matt was alarmed and upset seeing his sister like this, being weak and hurt especially bleeding severely.

Stefan could smell the blood of her neck pouring from the open wound when he saw the bite mark. He took note of the mark as his mouth fell open, running away from the party, heading to the boarding house where he saw Zach was sitting at his desk.

"What's going on?" Zach asked casually looking at his uncle who was really in panic.

"Someone else was attacked tonight, Zach, and it wasn't by me." Stefan clarified frustratedly and run upstairs to his room quickly, and slammed the door shut behind him. There was obviously another vampire in town, but he hadn't encounter the vampire yet, his mind was all about the bite mark on the girl's neck. Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted when a crow appeared, landed on one of the beams on his ceiling and when he turned around, he was shocked to see a figure standing there on the other side of the doorway with a playful smirk was playing on his lips.

"Damon." Stefan announced.

"Hello, brother." Damon purred with a smirk, walking into the room as the crow disappeared when Stefan and Damon stared at each other.

"Crow's a bit much, don't you think?" Stefan asked.

"Wait until you see what I can do with the fog." He wiggled his eye brows but ended up glaring at his little brother in front of him.

"When did you get here?" Stefan asked bluntly.

"Well, I couldn't miss your first day of school." Damon joked while started to explore the room and stopped near a shelf, running a hand on each books therein. "Your hair's different, I like it."

"It's been 15 years, Damon." Stefan replied tilting his head when Damon rolled his eyes in sarcasm.

"Thank God, I couldn't take another day of the 90s." Damon smirked playfully and raised his brows before continuing to talk to his brother. "That horrible grunge look? It doesn't suit you." He scoffed while walking around the room. "Remember, Stefan, it's important to stay away from fads."

"Why are you here?" Stefan asked the question clearer by raising his voice like he was retorting. Damon looked at him with a playful look and answered Stefan's question like it was so simple. "I missed my little brother."

"You hate small towns, it's boring, there's nothing for you to do." Stefan announced calmly watching his brother walking near to the shelf again.

"I've kept myself busy." Damon smirked.

Stefan nodded, slipping his hands into his pocket. "You know you left that girl alive tonight, very clumsy."

"That could be a problem... for you." Damon said lowering his voice and glared darkly at his brother before he could even answer.

Stefan shook his head, irritated at how his brother was calm with all the troubles he made for the past weeks. "Why are you here now?"

"I could ask you the same question. However, I'm fairly certain your answer can be summed up into one little word," Damon paused walking closer to his brother with a dangerous smirk started to appear on his lips. "_Elena_."

* * *

><p>Alex and Elena both sat there watching the paramedics carry Vicki into the back of an ambulance van as Matt was there inside the van before it left and blare the sirens. Tonight was terrifying—the party was forcefully stopped because of the incident. Everyone left as they were told to except for them who were Vicki's friends. They were still sitting in the small wooden cottage, Caroline was sitting across their seat, not wanting to join them in particular but she could still see and hear them clearly.<p>

"Hey, we're gonna go to Mainline Coffee and wait for news." Bonnie informed the rest of her friends. They were shaken about what just happened to one of their friends—although Vicki was actually a friend with bad habits, they still consider her as a friend. "Well, I'm gonna take Jeremy home." Elena replied, standing up, looking at everyone.

"Guys, there is no way I'm psychic." Bonnie announced carefully. "But whatever I saw, or I think I saw, I have this feeling..."

"Bonnie, what?" Alex looked at her, Tyler beside her started to look at Bonnie as well while still rubbing his girlfriend's shoulder gently. There was a long pause, the group were curious about what Bonnie will answer.

"That it's just the beginning." Bonnie finally replied, but with a scared look on her face, causing Alex and Elena to exchange looks at each other, terrified. **Beginning of what?**

Back to the Salvatores residence, the argument was still up as Damon paced the room slowly while his brother was busy watching him around. "Elena?" Damon creased his brows. "She is a dead ringer for Katherine."

Stefan walked a little bit closer, still watching his brother's moves.

"Is it working, Stefan? Being around her, being in her world, does it make you feel alive?" Damon mocked with an evil grin.

"She's not Katherine." Stefan clarified carefully, hanging on each word.

"Well, let's hope not, we all know how that ended. We gonna need tissues again, brother." Damon looked at the ceiling but then turned to Stefan in an instant. There was no reply.

"Tell me, when was the last time you had something stronger than a squirrel." Damon changed the subject, wiggling his eyebrows at him.

Stefan responded by rolling his eyes, scoffing at his brother who tried to provoke him. "I know what you're doing, Damon, it's not gonna work."

Damon grabbed him, immediately turning Stefan to face him. He knew exactly how to provoke the short-haired younger guy, or to annoy him to be exact. "Yeah? Come on! Don't you crave a little?"

"Stop." Stefan warned, raising an eye brow.

"Let's do it, together." Damon hit him again on the shoulder. "I saw a couple of girls out there."

Stefan gasped as his brother smacked him again.- "Or just, let's just cut to the chase. Let's just go straight for Elena and maybe… _Alex_ too!"

Impatient and angry, Stefan suddenly shoved him back, exclaiming in anger. "Stop it!"

"Imagine what their blood taste like!" Damon said, half-shouting, watching his brother turned. It was almost there, Damon was almost successful provoking him, and this time he purred playfully. "I can."

"I said stop!" Stefan yelled as his eyes turned a deep crimson, black veins popping around them and his fangs clicking down—he growled while launching himself at his older brother, pushing Damon and both were thrown through the closed window—landing hard on the concrete ground but Stefan realized he was on the floor alone, Damon wasn't there. The younger vampire pulled himself up with a loud groan escaped his lips.

"I was impressed." Damon said standing near a bush across Stefan. "I give it a six, miss on style, but I was pleasantly surprised. Very good with the face." He made a goofy growling noise to mock him with a chuckle. "It was good."

"You know, it's all fun and games, Damon, huh? But wherever you go people die."- Stefan walked over to him taking his time when Damon shrugged slowly. "That's a given."

"Not here," Stefan shook his head, showing his authority. "I won't allow it."

"I'll take that as an invitation." Damon muttered, wiggling his eye brows playfully.

Stefan sighed loudly. He was almost tired of all these. "Damon, please, after all these years can't we just give it a rest?"

"I promise you an eternity of misery, so I'm just keeping my word." He smiled evilly, walking closer and gave out a very playful look over his brother.

Now _he_ won, Stefan knew his brother won. "Just stay away from Elena."

Damon flickered down scanning his brother and suddenly burst out of laughing. "Elena? Oh baby brother. She isn't the one that I want. I want the younger Gilbert. Who's that? Oh, not Jeremy of course. His twin… Alex. she took my breath away."

"What do you want from Alex? Stop making troubles, Damon." Stefan's eyes narrowed, pleading his brother not to touch any of the Gilberts, and the uncomfortable feelings started to haunt him.

"Why don't you tell her that you have a brother? You want me to tell her myself?" Damon laughed playfully. He liked to annoy his younger brother. "By the way, where is your ring, Stefan?"

Stefan's eyes flickered down to his finger as he rubbed it with another hand; the ring was no longer on his finger, it was missing but he got the feeling that Damon was just playing around with him.

"Oh yeah," Damon shook his head, acting as if he was concerned, he made a fake worried face. "Sun's coming up in a couple of hours and, _poof_! Ashes to ashes."

Stefan gulped, and was about to say something before he heard his brother laughed at him.

"Relax." Damon walked over to his younger brother and held the ring out in his hand. "It's right here."

As soon as Stefan took the ring, he immediately put the ring back on his finger properly before Damon grabbed him by his neck as his face turned into his vampire face. Growling, Damon threw Stefan across the yard and caused him to land on the ground, and then Damon vamped over to him in just a second.

"You should know better than to think you're stronger than me," Damon warned his younger, weaker brother on the ground. "You lost that fight when you stopped feeding on people, I wouldn't try it again." He threatened and smirked as he heard the door opening. "I think we woke Zach up," he scoffed, and started to walk away.

"Sorry, Zach." He apologised, then whistling an up-beat tune before he left the area.

* * *

><p>Back in the party venue, as most of the people already left, Elena spotted her brother who was sitting on the other beam of the small cottage's fence, while Alex was still talking with her boyfriend, Tyler.<p>

"Are you okay?" Elena asked. "I called Jenna, and she's on her way. Alex will go home with Tyler, they might be late, well, you know them. And those people in uniforms, last time I checked, they're the police. People are going to stop giving you breaks, Jer."

Jeremy still didn't seem to care and continued drinking the beer in his hand.

"They just don't care anymore. They don't remember that our parents are dead, because they've got their own lives to deal with. The rest of the world has moved on. You should try, too." She suggested with a low voice as she crossed her arms looking at her messed up brother.

"I've seen you in the cemetery writing in your diary. Is that─ is that supposed to be you moving on?" He asked sarcastically and turned his dark glare to her. He lost his parents, and now he didn't want to lose the girl he loved, he didn't want to see anyone else dying.

"Mom and dad wouldn't have wanted this. They obviously don't want to see you like this, Jeremy."

"Just leave me alone." Jeremy said and started walking away.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Matt was sitting on the couch in Vicki's room where she had been resting after the incident—and a minute later, he was aware that she woke up, gasping.

"Vicki… Hey. Hey, it's okay. You're gonna be okay." Matt assured her while caressing her hair gently.

"Matt—"

"Hey, don't try to talk, okay? You're fine." He tried to comfort her—and himself, of course. It was worrying to know that his sister was still gasping, terrified about the incident. But he knew he couldn't blame her because he knew she was still in trauma.

"…_Vampire_."

* * *

><p>Alex threw herself onto her bed, dropping her bag beside her and wondered about what just happened today. It was strange, yet terrifying. She couldn't help but keep recalling the incidents. She glanced toward the door when she heard her sister made slight noises outside. She left her room and followed Elena downstairs, and saw her opening the door for Stefan.<p>

"I'm sorry it's late but I needed to know that you were okay?" Stefan looked at her, and then at Alex behind Elena. He greeted her. "Hello, Alex."

She only sent him a kind, polite smile in reply.

"You know, for months, that's all anyone's ever wondered about me…" Elena shrugged her shoulders and let out a small sigh. "If I'll be okay."

Alex looked at both of them while listening to their conversation.

"And what do you tell them?"

"I tell them that I'll be fine."

Alex started to speak to help her sister to answer his question. "Well, she doesn't want too many people to worry about her."

"Okay... do you ever really mean it, Elena?"

"Ask me tomorrow." Elena replied tersely with a half-smile. "It's warmer in the house, we can talk. Would you like to come in?"

"Yes." Stefan smiled back while slowly walking inside the house.

"Um, hey, I'll be in my room." Alex said to both of them while heading to the staircase. "Night, Elena and Stefan. Have fun."

"Night." Elena nodded with a warm smile.

Stefan also smiled to the younger female who was going upstairs. "Night, Alex. See you tomorrow."

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><p><strong>AN — <strong>Good or bad, reviews will always be very loved, it will encourage and help me a lot to continue the story. :D

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><p>Don't forget to visit <strong>theroseofgilbert<strong> . **tumblr** . **com** for pictures, gifs, etc that is related to the story. You can also interact with Damon and Alex when they're online!

. . .

**Do you wanna see the outfits that Alex wear? Then you are more than just welcome to visit my polyvore! ****My username is **summerhuntress**. All outfits are there! Feel free to follow if you have an account.**

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><p><strong>~ To Be Continued ~<strong>


	2. Chapter 2: The Night of the Comet

**Chasing Perfection**  
>Season One<br>**Chapter 2****:** The Night of the Comet

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><p>Alex stared at the ceiling waiting for her sister to be done since they were going to school together. She was currently thinking about the man she saw, he successfully made her terrified. It was like you were being terrorized and creepily stalked by someone you barely knew. But just when she thought nothing else could terrify her, yesterday's incidents did. When a crow hit the car and then she spotted that man at the grill, a crow and fog all around her and Tyler in the woods and lastly the bite marks on Vicki's neck. She was really terrified—all of it was still haunting her.<p>

Suddenly her sister opened the door and gestured outside the room, distracting her thoughts. Alex eventually rolled over the bed, flipping onto her stomach and stood up immediately to follow her sister. After whatever happened, she thought she needed to get over it because she didn't want to feel more pain after her parents death.

Outside the room, they encountered their aunt dressed in a dark blue dress, getting ready for something. Alex narrowed her eyes when she saw her aunt was doing her hair. "Do I look adult? As in respectfully parental?" Jenna asked for their opinion.

"Depends on where you're going." Alex replied casually while checking her phone.

"Jeremy's parent-teacher conference. Hair up or down?" She wondered, putting her hair up and showed it to her nieces and made them wondered as well.

"Sexy stewardess." Elena commented.

Jenna eventually put her hair down.

"Boozy housewife." Alex said smirking at her aunt, before her eyes flickered back to her phone, replying text messages from her boyfriend.

"Up it is." Jenna confirmed, turning to her nieces who were chuckling before she commented about them. "You guys are feisty today."

"We feel good, which is rare. So we've decided to go with it. Fly free, walk on the sunshine, and all that stuff." Elena explained while smiling to her aunt, trying to show her that she and her sister were going to be fine and she swore she would find a way for them to get used to this.

"Anyway... where's Jeremy?" Alex questioned while checking on her twin's room which was empty.

Jenna replied. "He left early. Something about getting to the wood shop early to finish a birdhouse."

There was a long awkward pause between them when their aunt stopped, looking at them in desperation. "There is no wood shop, is there?"

"Nope." Alex shook her head lightly, exchanged looks with her sister as they had the same thoughts about their brother that left early with a stupid cover up reason. Jenna sighed and muttered, defeated. "Yeah."

* * *

><p>Jeremy leaned against a wall and starred at Vicki who was laying on the hospital bed, sleeping well and tightly. His face was forming into a deeply sad expression as he looked at her—he could still remember her condition last night, she was helpless, terrified and hurt. If only he knew what attacked her that night, he would have reported it to the local sheriff immediately, so the case would be investigated sooner or later and no more people would get attacked.<p>

While scanning her and making sure she was fine, a nurse came into the room to check on her tab and wrote something down on the paper she was holding. "You can't be in here, hun. Visiting hours don't start 'till 9:00."

"I just—" He blinked. "How is she?"

"She's lost a lot of blood." She stated while still writing the report of Vicki's current condition.

"Yeah, but she's gonna be okay, right?"He asked hopefully.

The nurse walked towards him and grabbed him by his shoulder, pushing him gently to get outside the room immediately. "She needs her rest. So come back later, come on."

* * *

><p>While the teacher was giving a lecture in front of the class, Alex remained quiet and once again thought about what happened yesterday. Yesterday was like a disaster in town,when a lot of terrifying incidents happened in less than 24 hours. How is that even possible? Alex was still mentally asking herself about it, trying to figure out whatever was going on in this town.<p>

"Ms. Gilbert?"

Her thoughts were distracted, she pulled herself back to reality as soon as she heard her teacher mentioned her last name which surprised her. Everyone in class was looking at her as if she was a freak, they were staring at her, making her feel strange. Her gaze turned back to her teacher who creased his brows and waited for her to answer. "I'm sorry, sir. I, uh, I was-" She tried to come up with an excuse.

Suddenly the school bell rang, interrupting her to explain the situation, she breathed out in relief. Slowly she walked out of class only to encounter her boyfriend was standing beside her, "God dammit! Ty, you scared the hell out of me." She breathed out while being pulled into a hug by him.

"Sorry," he said smiling while joining their friends who were currently talking about Bonnie's psychic powers that she has recently told them, walking down the hall. "I'm confused. Are you psychic or clairvoyant?" Caroline asked.

"Technically, Grams says I'm a witch. My ancestors were these really cool Salem witch chicks or something." Bonnie chuckled, looking at them. "Grams tried to explain it all, but she was looped on the liquor, so I kinda turned out... Crazy family, yes. Witches? I don't think so."

"Witch? Okay, a _witch_?" Caroline almost moaned and scoffed quietly after hearing the explanation. "Well feel free to conjure up the name and number of that guy from last night."

"What guy?" Alex was curious, in case they saw the same guy.

"I didn't see him, she did." Bonnie answered and turned back to her blonde friend to answer her question. "And why didn't you just talk to him Caroline?"

"I don't know, I was drunk." Caroline answered simply.

"Uh, hey, Bonnie, what's that about your statement last night at the party? That this is just the beginning?" Alex asked curiously, looking at Bonnie in confusion, hoping she would explain the meaning of it. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know... but I just got the feeling. I'm sure because it feels right." Bonnie replied simply. Her gaze moved to both Alex and Tyler who were holding hands which she thought was cute. Alex only nodded, "Oh okay... I thought you knew something more about it."

There was a pause for a few seconds until her boyfriend told her that he wanted to join his team near the field, and before he went outside, he gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. She only smiled, watching him leave until he was out of sight and continued talking with her best friends along the hallway.

* * *

><p>"The hospital is keeping her overnight to make sure there are no infections, but she should be able to come home tomorrow though." Matt said to Elena with a relieved sigh, his face twisted in worry remembering his sister, in which no matter how big of a rebel his sister was, he would always be there for her. She smiled supportively but deep down inside wondering if her brother would ever do the same... she probably would be be the happiest sister in the world and all the sorrow she felt may slowly fade. "Well... that's a good news." She said.<p>

"Yeah," he nodded.

"Did you get in touch with your mom?" She wondered, at the same time trying her best to change the topic and make him at least feel better. She realized they were actually having the same situation, where their families were torn apart. And they, Matt and Elena, became the only ones to try and fix the family with a lot struggles.

"Called and left a message. She is in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend. So... we'll see how it takes her to come rushing home." Said Matt, still walking together with her, sharing their life stories and issues.

"Vicki's lucky that she's okay." Elena said while lowering her voice, rubbing her arm uncomfortably. They weren't aware that there was someone sitting on a table and overhearing their entire conversations. Stefan.

"I know, and now there's talk of some missing campers." He informed, suddenly sounded worried about the town and all the incidents that happened in it.

"Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?"

"She said it was a vampire," was his reply. Stefan was quietly surprised hearing this, knowing that that girl whom his brother attacked knew exactly who almost killed her last night. Elena paused while looking at him in disbelief, "what?"

"Yeah," he breathed out replying to her question, he knew that nobody would believe it, because honestly he didn't believe it either but it was his sister who spoke. "She woke up last night and muttered "vampire" and then passed out."

"Okay. That is weird." she chuckled lightly.

"I think she was drunk," he shrugged. "So what's up with you and the new guy?"

"Matt, the last thing I want to do is hurt you."

He looked at her, and then quickly made an excuse to leave. "You know, I'm─ I'm actually gonna go back to the hospital. I want to be there when Vicki wakes up, and get the real story about last night."

With that, he left her there alone. Leaving her feeling guilty all over again because of everything she did, or said to him. She looked around and saw nobody though she felt someone was there a few seconds ago. She sighed frustratedly, knowing he was still avoiding her. But then she tried to convince herself that everything would be alright as soon as she got used to it all.

Inside the hallway, Bonnie, Caroline and Alex walked near to the huge door that leads to the field. Alex held her book and hugged it with her arms while talking to her two best friends about the entire Vicki incident that happened last night, since it was still the top news in their school universe. Almost everyone witnessed it, and they were now talking about it. "Did you guys see the bite mark on her neck?" Alex randomly questioned.

"Vicki? No, I didn't." Caroline shrugged her shoulders, turning to their psychic bestfriend beside her. "How about you Bon?"

"Well... when I bumped her earlier before the incident, I saw these creepy things. A crow and fog. I don't know. It gets me dizzy." Bonnie quietly sighed. Alex pulled her into a hug while patting her back, but she pulled away and made a worried face as if something was wrong with Alex.

"Bonnie, what is it?" Alex frowned.

"This psychic thing is driving me crazy. You know what, when we hugged, I saw this crow and fog and it's the exact vision I had when touching Vicki," she panted while looking at Alex carefully before exchanging a glare with Caroline. "I'm sorry, it was weird."

"So... is this something like serial murderous story? Is she gonna be attacked as well?" Caroline blinked her eyes.

"No. I, uh, I have no idea. Let's just talk about something else and hope that this feeling I had is not coming true." Bonnie said while smiling to her friends. Alex mirrored the smile but her attention was drawn somewhere outside the building where she saw her brother.

"Not anymore," Alex groaned quietly.

"What?" Caroline frowned.

"It's my brother." Alex said, immediately putting her books into her bag and walked outside. She saw her brother was walking toward her boyfriend while he was enjoying the talk with his friends. What Alex worried was that... they would probably have a fight over senseless stuffs since her boyfriend never liked her brother. She did the same, disliking her brother and avoided him but she realized she couldn't since her brother was that one person whom she spent her entire childhood with. Many up and downs came towardsthem, and the only one who reminded her to stay strong was her brother.

"Hey, Tyler." Jeremy called. "I'm sorry to interrupt, I was just wondering... have you visited Vicki? How bad is she? What room number she was in? Is she going to make a full recovery?"

"Why? You want to see her? Go ahead." Tyler turned to him with a completely disgusted, distracted, disturbed expression on his face. "Get out of here. Don't bring these because she is no longer with me. Your sister won't like it."

"You told Vicki that even if you broke up with her, you will be there for her. Taking care of her. Now what? Have you even asked her brother at least? Do they know what attacked her?" Jeremy questioned casually, not caring if everyone was around and looking at him.

"I'm gonna kick your ass." Tyler threatened, his eyes were full of darkness, giving Jeremy a death glare as if he were to kill him right now.

"Yeah, you keep saying that, but when are you actually going to do it, huh?" Jeremy squared up to him and glared back as he shoved Tyler almost too harshly. "Cause I vote right here and right now."

"You better walk away, dude. I don't want your sister to see this and I'm sure as hell you don't want it either." Tyler warned sarcastically, or upsetly, at his girlfriend's brotherwhom he had always disliked to be honest.

"Jer!" A voice came approaching them. It was Alex. Jeremy rolled his eyes, taking a few steps back to see his approaching sister. "What now?" His jaw tightened.

"What's your problem? You're tryin' to show him that you're better? By picking a fight with him? Seriously, are you stupid or what? Stop it, whatever this is." She retorted loudly while pushing her brother away by his firm chest, and when she looked at him in the eyes, he was clearly disappointed and angry.

"Listen Gilbert, I think you better walk away. It's your final warning because I don't wanna kick your ass." Tyler said somewhat upset but he tried to keep it down in front of his girlfriend.

"Tyler," she warned quietly while pushing him a bit far away from where her brother was.

"No. This is your final warning, dick. I'm sick watching you play with Vicki all the time. Your promises are nothing but bullshit, something to make her let go of you. And if you ever do the same to my sister, I swear to God, I will kill you for Vicki and my sister's sake." Jeremy warned back, fearless of who he was dealing with and then immediately left Tyler with Alex there.

"I'm sorry," Tyler apologized while rubbing her back.

Dammit. She closed her eyes slowly, thinking about her brother that had been acting strange and short tempered for the past days. She knew it was all about their parents who had been there with them almost all the time until they passed away ─ everything in her family changed almost one hundred percent. And that look on his face a while ago was showing how hurt he had been. She thought about his relationship to Elena for the past months, and it wasn't even getting better at all.

She let out a deep sigh, and when she opened her eyes, all the memories about her family when it was still complete rushed back, it was hurting but she kept it inside. She decided to go check on her twin brother because she knew he needed someone—and Elena couldn't be the fittest one to accompany him right now. "I think I need to check on my brother, alright? I want to make sure that he is okay." She said kissing Tyler's cheek and immediately ran after Jeremy who was getting inside the building.

Alex immediately gripped on his neck, dragging him to the quieter part of the hallways, and slightly threw him away to the locker while giving him a death glare. "What the hell was that for? You think you can just deal with him that simple and boom, you're done? You know who he is. And he's two friggin' years older than you."

"I'm getting really sick of him, Alex!" He yelled back in disgust when his sister defended Tyler more than him. "Why are you even on his side and not mine? I'm your twin brother! Why are you even dating him? He's a dick. Do you know what he promised to Vicki when they broke up? He said he will be there for her although they were no longer together. But he is now the complete opposite — he doesn't care about her."

"He is dating me, Jer. Alright? He is protecting my feelings for me. He is no longer the jerk you knew. I'm dating him right now because he is a good man, at least he changed, unlike you." She said, her mouth fell open, watching how her brother had gone crazy just because of the Donovan chick.

He stood up and made a pleading face, looking at her, hoping she would understand but she unfortunately couldn't. "You're obsessed over Vicki, that's all. If you like her, date her, so you can prove what you can do. I will be glad if you date her instead of being mad at Tyler." She said, lowering her voice.

"Just leave me alone, Alex. I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Leave." He walked away to the other part of school halls as she sighed loudly, watching him walk away. Fighting with her twin brother was the worst part of whatever happened today, to be honest.

* * *

><p>As soon as the school was finished, Elena texted her sister to come to the grill to chat and have coffee together with their friends, Caroline and Bonnie. It has been a rough week for them all, witnessing strange things they knew nothing about.<p>

"Well, I talked to Grams and she told me the comet was a sign of impending doom." Bonnie explained, "The last time it passed over Mystic Falls, there were lots of deaths, so much blood and carnage. It created a bed of paranormal activity."

"That's a movie title, I've watched them. It's so creepy." Alex said casually while eating her French fries and stopped when her friends looked at her awkwardly.

"Yeah, and then you poured Grams another shot and she told you about the aliens." Caroline rolled her eyes, turning to her brunette best friend, the older one. Elena. "So then what?"

"So then nothing," Elena replied simply.

"Not that. I mean, you and Stefan talked all night right?" Caroline prompted. "There was no sloppy first kiss or touchy-feely of any kind?"

Alex only smiled playfully while continued eating her French fries.

"Nope, we didn't go there." Elena shrugged in reply.

"And not even a handshake? I mean, we are your friends, okay? You are supposed to share the smut!" Caroline told her bestfriend, slightly smiling but disappointed.

"We just talked for hours. That's it."

"What is with the blockage?" Caroline suggested, "Jump his bones already!"

Bonnie and Alex both exchanged glares before playing a smirk on their lips about their blonde-friend's words. "That's not gonna happen! I'm a real stalker." Alex chuckled teasing her sister, indirectly.

Caroline smirked back. "Okay, it's easy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy, sex!"

"Profound." Elena rolled her eyes while standing up from her seat, grabbing her bag.

"Wait, where are you going?" Bonnie asked looking up at Elena.

"Caroline's right." She said, "It's easy. If I sit here long enough, I'll end up taking myself out of it instead of doing what I started the day saying what I was going to do."

"I'm coming along." Alex confirmed with a slight smile appearing on her lips, finishing her drink and slinging her bag on her shoulder.

Elena tilted her head waiting for her sister. "Let's go."

"Yeah, let's go. Later, guys." Alex waved at both Caroline and Bonnie, walking with Elena together, leaving the grill.

Meanwhile in the Gilbert's house, Jeremy walked downstairs and went passing the kitchen only to see his aunt was there signalling him to come over and talk, when he grabbed his jacket. "I picked up dinner," she said as he turned to her for a moment. "Tacos. I had an urge for guacamole."

"No, I'm good, thanks." Jeremy said walking away with the jacket he carried, leaving his aunt in the kitchen.

"Eat anyway. It's a ruse. I want to talk." She replied in quiet mutters, narrowing her eyes at her nephew as he started to leave, still ignoring what his aunt offered.

"Hey, you! Come, sit!" She yelled out, pointing out to him as he began to turn around reluctantly, sitting in front of Jenna and rolled his eyes. "Back in school, freshman year, I could eat my weight in nachos, with extra cheese. It was my munchie food whenever I got stoned."

"You get high?" He grinned in a strange, weird way.

"Did. Past tense." She squinted her eyes as he watched her speaking and his grin faded slightly, when she started to get everything from the shopping bag out. "But, yeah. Loved it. Anything to get a little distraction from life... Reality. And it worked. For a while. Never lasts, though. Hey, I'm not saying I wouldn't love to rail back and kick it, but with a thesis looming and a waistline expanding."

While Jenna was talking and walked approaching the fridge, he made his way leaving the house through the back door when Jenna wasn't looking. But then she sighed when she noticed he was already gone leaving her hanging with her sentences.

* * *

><p>When the sisters arrived at the Salvatores boarding house, Elena practically ran for the door and rang the doorbell twice as Alex slowly made her way joining her, trying to plan some conversations in her head when meeting her sister's new crush. When no one came to the door, Alex hit the door knocker and it suddenly swung open. Both started to walk inside, fearless, walking into the house which looked creepy but not so scary either. "Stefan?" Elena called.<p>

"Elena, I don't think this is a good idea. You know, this is so impolite of us..." Alex reasoned while putting her phone into her bag, leaning her head forward to see whatever was there in the house. Elena ignored her while walking further into the house and Alex, however, needed to follow her.

When they heard the door hinges squeak, Elena quickly walked toward the door to see it, and both jumped when they saw a crow came through the door. Alex immediately turned around only to discover that she was right now standing close to a guy with bright icy blue eyes which she thought was kind of hot. "We, uh, we are very sorry for barging in..." Alex said apologizing and took a few steps backward to get some space between them.

"Well, the door was..." Elena said gesturing to the door but when she looked back, the door was already closed. "Open."

Damon looked at Elena for a few seconds. "You must be Elena..." He hung up while scanning the other brunette, "And you're Alex, right? I'm Damon, Stefan's older brother."

"Stefan didn't mention that he had a brother?" Alex stared at him confusedly, narrowing her eyes and glared at her sister who was shrugging.

"Well, Stefan isn't one to brag." He replied still locking his eyes on Alex.

"Please, come in. I'm sure Stefan will be here any second." He moved to the side and led the two into the luxury living room, where Alex stared to compliment everything about the decorations as her jaws broke open. "Wow, this is your living room?" Elena asked.

"Living room, parlor, Sotheby's auction." Damon joked with a slight chuckle escaped his curvy lips. "It's a little kitschy for my taste."

"Cool." Alex chuckled as Damon responded throwing a wink at her.

"I see why my brother's so smitten, it's about time. For a while there, I never thought he'd get over the last one, nearly destroyed him." Damon explained catching Elena's attention in an instant. "The last one?" She asked.

"Yeah. _Katherine_. His girlfriend?" He creased a brow more in a teasing sort of way. "Oh, you two haven't had the awkward exes conversation yet."

"Uh, nope."

"Oops." He made a teasy smile. "Well, I'm sure It'll come up now. Or maybe he didn't want to tell you because he didn't want you to think he was on the rebound. We all know how those relationships end."

Elena nodded slowly as she turned to her sister, Alex, who started to speak. "You say that like every relationship is doomed to end."

"I'm a fatalist." He smirked at Alex, still scanning her once again. Until he noticed someone else. "Hello, Stefan."

When the two turned around, followed by Damon, they saw Stefan was standing there watching them, looking at Damon angrily. "Elena, Alex, I didn't know you were coming over." Stefan stated, but he didn't took his dark brown eyes off his older brother Damon.

"We should have called, sorry." Elena nodded slowly, followed by Alex's nod. "Yeah, Elena's right. We're just─"

"Oh, no, don't be silly. You two are welcome anytime, aren't they, Stefan?" Damon smiled charmingly and looked at Elena teasingly. "You know I should break open the family photo albums, or some home movies. But I have to warn you, he wasn't always such a looker."

"Thank you for stopping by, girls." Stefan spoke to them softly whilst glaring darkly at Damon. "Nice to see you."

"Yeah, we should probably, uh, go." Alex nodded with a wide smile started to appear on her lips, the smile that have taken over Damon's attention that moment.

"Yeah. Anyway, it was nice to meet you, Damon." Elena said looking at the older brother while slinging the bag on her shoulder. "Great meeting you too, Elena."

"And it was nice to meet you, Alex." Damon walked a little bit closer to the younger sister while grabbing her hand and land his lips on top of it. "Stefan...? Stefan?" Elena asked as Stefan was blocking her way to leave, and then after his brother released Alex's hand—Stefan moved away, giving the girls a way to leave.

Alex breathed out while running impatiently outside the house together with her sister, closing the door behind them, and walked away from the house's area. Back in the boarding house, the argument was still up. "Great gals!" Damon smiled playfully—or smirked.

"Whoo! Alex is lovely and, Elena, she's got... spunk." The smile on his lips turned into a very playful smirk. "Did you overwork yourself today? Let me guess... Hospital."

"Someone had to clean up your mess." Stefan countered walking towards the fireplace.

"Well, were you successful?" Damon asked playfully. "Did the powers of persuasion work? Remember, if you don't feed properly, none of those little tricks work right."

"How long were they here?" Stefan asked fiddling with his ring slowly. "Were you worried, Stefan?"

"Scared I might use the whole mind tricks to the cute and passionate Alexandra Gilbert or your little crush? Relax, brother." Damon scoffed sarcastically and patted his brother's shoulder twice.

"What game are you playing, Damon?" Stefan asked turning around to Damon who was shrugging at the moment before walking away. "Guess you'll have to wait and see, won't you?"

Over the Gilberts house, Jenna, Alex and Elena were standing in the kitchen making food together. Alex was pouring chocolate souce onto her sundae as Elena began to help mixing it before Alex took some with the spoon and tried it.

"He's on the rebound, and he has raging family issues." Elena explained while trying some of the sundae she made and exchanged look with her sister.

"Well, at least it's an ex-girlfriend." Jenna commented.

"Yeah, at least it wasn't mommy issues." Alex chuckled, licking her lips and put the sauce back onto the kitchen's cupboard. "Or cheating issues, or amphetamine issues."

"You tell us." Jenna shrugged lightly and laughed grabbing an apple while taking a bite of it before the door was opened and was heard closed a while later. Alex turned to see Jeremy walked in with his hood up, looking at Alex for a moment and then glaring at Elena and Jenna before running for the stairs. "Hey Jer─"

"Jeremy!" Jenna called, running after him and standing at the bottom on the stairs while ignoring how she had cutted Alex off. "Where were you?"

"More stoner stories? Look, Jenna, I get it, you were cool once too and that's cool." He said holding a thumb up at Jenna. "Oh, no, no, no!" Jenna groaned, throwing her apple at Jeremy as he tried to walk upstairs.

"Ow! Why, _Why_? Why did you do that?" Jeremy asked turning around.

"Listen to me, quit ditching class, or you're grounded. End of discussion." Jenna warned him.

"Parental authority, I like it." Jeremy gave her another thumbs up and a weird grin that made Alex laughed quietly on her seat. "Sleep tight." He finally walked upstairs and headed to his room.

"Depression makes him an idiot." Alex shrugged with a smile while trying another spoon of sundae and then wiped the table with the tissues.

* * *

><p>Next day, Stefan was inside his room and was getting ready for school while Zach slowly came giving him lectures, it felt very peculiar for a younger man like him to gave the ancient vampire a little lesson. Stefan looked at his nephew as if he was asking what he was doing there.<p>

"What is Damon doing here?" Zach finally sent out a question.

Stefan sighed, buttoning his shirt and replied the question tersely. "He wants to make my life miserable, that's how he enjoys his."

"Well, he's putting us all at risk. This girl in the hospital could talk!" Zach informed carefully while looking at his uncle firmly.

"She won't. I took care of her." Stefan promised.

This didn't convince Zach enough. "You sure?"

"I'm _not_ sure, Zach," Stefan admitted with a heavy sigh, "I don't know how well it worked. I'm not as strong as Damon."

"So... what happens if it doesn't work?" Zach asked again.

Stefan shrugged and about to leave, looking at his nephew once again. "I don't know, I'll deal with it."

"Is she worth it? Uncle Stefan... this girl you came back for?" He called Stefan who was stopping at the door and was giving his nephew a look before leaving the room in silence, not replying to the question.

At the grill, Jeremy encountered Vicki near the bar as she was about to leave, but he paused her there. From the distance, Tyler was watching the two while Alex was sitting beside him to watch her twin brother. "Vicki, what are you doing here?" Jeremy asked.

"Fighting with Robert about my schedule. You'd think getting ripped up by a rabid animal would merit an extra sick day." She joked with a chuckle.

"Well, are you feeling okay?" Jeremy asked again about her condition. "It still kinda hurts."She replied.

"Well, the doctor gave you something, right?" Jeremy made sure, raising his brows.

"The kid stuff." The drug addict teen replied. "Nothing with an o on it, I think they're onto me."

Jeremy laughed with her before grabbing a bottle of pills from his hoodie pocket slowly, not wanting anyone to notice. "Here, knock yourself out, literally." He placed the whole bottle in her hand.

"Thanks, Jer." Vicki smiled at him, taking two instantly, and looked at him. "Are you gonna watch the comet later?" Jeremy asked hopefully.

"I hadn't really thought about it." She admitted coyly. "But I could be talked into it. I'll meet you out there in a few."

Tyler blinked almost a couple of times while Alex watched him being irritated watching Jeremy and Vicki being together. She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath and thought positively about her boyfriend. It felt like she was suffocating inside, there were so many thoughts zipping through her mind, and all conflicted. But again, she tried to think more positively, because she knew one thing that Tyler loved her and she loved him. "I'm just going to ask her if she's okay, would you let me?" Tyler asked distracting her 'trying-to-calm' thoughts as he caressed her hair gently.

"Yeah, sure." She smiled─faked a smile perhaps, when her man walked away approaching his ex lover. "Hey, Vic. How are you feeling?" He tried to smile.

"Like you care." She spat quietly walking away from them as Jeremy made a look in a mocking manner, sending it towards the Lockwood guy. "What are you lookin' at, Gilbert?" Tyler hissed walking back to her girlfriend on the seat. Jeremy turned to see them and was annoyed at how his brother-in-law seemed to try catching Vicki's attention by asking her condition.

"She didn't want to talk to me. So okay, I'm still good." Tyler said practically while wrapping an arm around her neck while watching Jeremy leave the grill immediately.

* * *

><p>Alex and Tyler casually sat on the bench while watching Bonnie and Caroline light their candles and then Bonnie passed them two unlit candles after that. "Some people who didn't attend this event are so not cool at all. They are going to miss this." Bonnie stated and turned to their candles that weren't lit and lit it for them. "Exactly." Alex laughed, sharing the candle's fire with Tyler.<p>

Alex, unknowingly, and suddenly spotted Matt looking at Elena and Stefan jealously as they were talking together and lighting each other's candles. "Alex, back to the discussion!" Bonnie held her hands up.

"Yeah, yeah. Relax." She said with a positive smile. "It's the night of the comet, why would I miss it?"

"She's right, let's move and join the crowd." Tyler suggested, standing up from the ground and ready to walk with his girlfriend. "Let's go." Bonnie confirmed.

* * *

><p>A while later, a voice came from Damon's right side as he looked up to see the girl he had bitten back at the school party. "I know you." She said; it was Vicki.<p>

"Well that's unfortunate." Damon smirked, turning his gaze at her when she walked towards him and started to stare intently. "I don't know how but your face..."

"Excuse me, sorry." She apologized leaving to the bathroom shortly and stood near the sink looking at her pale face on the mirror. She popped another two pills from the pill bottle Jeremy had given her and quickly washed them down with some tap water. When she rose back up and looked at the mirror, she saw Damon standing behind her and he came forward, attacked her and sank his teeth into her neck.

Everyone was gathered at the grill, and Bonnie, Tyler, Alex, Elena and Caroline were all sitting together at a table and were joined by Matt. They were talking about the comet, until Jeremy came interrupting them. "Hey," Jeremy walked over. "Has anyone seen Vicki?"

"You're her stalker, you tell us." Tyler spat calmly leaning back on the chair. Jeremy replied, "I can't find her."

Alex looked at her brother and unexpectedly got shocked, at the same time still waiting for everyone to react about it as well.

Tyler rolled his eyes and replied, "She probably found someone else to party with. Sorry, pill pusher, guess you've been replaced."

"Tyler, stop." Alex warned quietly, rubbing his firm chest to calm him down and then turned to Elena who asked in an instant. "What's with the pill pusher?"

"Ask him." Tyler gestured towards Jeremy, which shocked Alex. "Seriously, Jer? Are you dealing?"

"What, are you gonna do this right now?" Jeremy glared.

"She's never gonna go for you," Tyler's eyes darkened. "I knew her well, she would never go for a little boy like you."

"She already did." Jeremy growled. "Over and over again."

"You slept with Vicki?" Alex half-shouted, disbelieving.

"She means Vicki Donovan slept with you." Caroline chuckled nastily, as if she was giggling seductively.

"And I didn't have to force her into it." Jeremy looked evilly at Tyler.

"Stop." Alex warned again.

"What the hell is Jeremy talking about?" Matt asked Tyler in protest, being protective of his little sister. "It's nothing, man. He's a punk, let's just ignore him."

"All of you need to shut up now, okay?" Alex affirmed while standing up. Interrupting everyone. "She's missing and this debate about this slumber party won't help!"

"She's right." Tyler agreed. "We should go search for Vicki."

"How?"

"We'll check the grill bathrooms." Bonnie stated, dragging Caroline and Elena with her to the bathrooms. "I'll check the square." Matt declared.

"I'll come with you." Jeremy attempted to leave.

"Not until you're done with me, emo hippie." Alex grabbed him to the corner. "So you're dealing now? Really? I tried to calm down, but you're getting on my nerves."

Tyler crossed his arms watching his girlfriend scolding her brother in the corner, he found it amusing if he wanted to be honest. "I'm not dealing." Jeremy said.

"That's a nice cover up story, and it's some kind of foolish. Jer, it's a serious matter, this is the last warning, okay? I'll keep an eye on you." Alex shook her head lightly watching her brother.

"Elena and Jenna already gave me such warns and complaints. And now, not you too. Okay? Okay." He protested while rolling his eyes.

"Hey, listen to me! This isn't a good thing, Jer. Should I tell the school about this, or you want me to keep an eye on you? Pick one." Alex said, offering choices, leaning back against a wall and still waiting for Jeremy's response. "I choose none of the above." He glared at her and Tyler before leaving to the square to join Matt.

* * *

><p>On top of a shop building, Stefan caught Damon holding Vicki on the edge of the building. It took Stefan a second to get himself up there, and he was already looking directly at his brother and Vicki at the edge of the roof.<p>

"Excuse me." Stefan interrupted although Damon had already interrupted when he was aware his heroic brother was already there.

"No! No!" Vicki shrieked when she felt like she was about to fall. "Shh, I'm not gonna drop you."

"Not bad." Damon said covering Vicki's mouth. "Have you been eating bunnies?"

"Let her go." Stefan ordered.

"Shh. Really?" Damon asked, surprised, taking his hand away from her mouth. "Okay." He almost dropped her as she screamed quietly.

"No! No!" Stefan stepped forward.

"Ugh, relax." Damon threw her forward into Stefan's arms.

Vicki sobbed. "What's happening?"

"I don't need her to be dead, but you might." Damon smirked at Stefan before looking down at the terrified drugged teenager. "What attacked you the other night?"

"I don't know, an animal." She admitted, although it didn't sounded convincing.

"Are you sure about that? Think about it. Think really hard." He faced her. "What attacked you?" Damon repeated the question.

"A _vampire_." She whispered terrified and moved a few steps back.

Damon asked her again, trying to scare her. "Who did this to you?"

"You did!" She exclaimed, trying to get away from him.

"Wrong!" Damon interrupted her in a humorous voice and convinced her again with his mind tricks. "It was Stefan." He whispered as he grabbed her to his side as he began to compel her. "_Stefan Salvatore_ did this to you."

"_Stefan Salvatore_ did this to me." Vicki repeated.

"He's a vampire." Damon continued compelling the teen. "A vicious, murderous monster."

"Please, Damon, please, don't." Stefan begged him to stop the acts and the tricks as Damon stopped compelling her, ripping off Vicki's bandage. "If you couldn't fix it before, I don't know what you're gonna do now." He smirked while throwing the weakened young girl at Stefan and threw her neck bandage to him after that.

"Your choice of lifestyle has made you weak." Damon scolded his younger vegetarian vampire brother. "A couple of vampire parlour tricks is nothing compared to the powers you could have, that you now need." Damon watched as his brother was becoming darker with blood lust, but was still trying to resist it at the same time. "But you can change that, human blood gives you that."

Stefan shook his head, trying even harder to resist the blood craving, fighting the urges of feeding off the girl on the ground. "You have two choices," Damon said. "You can feed and make her forget, or you can let her run screaming 'vampire' through the town square." He offered while looking down into the town square where he spotted Alex with her dumbass boyfriend, a title he made for Tyler. They were looking for this girl who was with him right now.

"That's what this is about?" Stefan finally spoke firmly. "You want to expose me?"

"No, I want you to remember who you are!" Damon retorted.

"Why?" Stefan asked while looking at his older brother. "So I'll feed, so I'll kill, so I'll remember what it's like to be brothers again... you know what? Let her go, let her tell everyone that Vampires have returned to Mystic Falls, let them chain me up and let them drive a stake through my heart." Stefan glared darkly, "At least then I'll be free of you."

Damon scoffed at his brother before wandering over Vicki who was laying on the ground of the roof, as then he immediately pulled her. "Come here, sweetheart."

"No!"

"It's okay." He cooed before whispering something in her ears and then rubbing her arms to comfort her. "What happened?" She asked clueless. "Oh, I ripped my stitches open."

"You okay?" Stefan asked in concern, worried about the girl's condition. "I took some pills, man, I'm good."

Vicki laughed softly and began to leave the roof carefully, leaving the two brothers alone with their debates. "It's good to be home. I think I might stay a while, this town could use a bit of a wake up call, don't you think?"

"What are you up to, Damon?" Stefan narrowed his eyes, confused about what he was going to plan in the town.

"That's for me to know and for you to dot, dot, dot." He grinned, "Alexandra Gilbert."

"Leave Alex out of this. It has nothing to do with her." Stefan demanded.

"I'll leave Alex when you leave Elena, Stefan. Think about it, and that's it. That's the only option." Damon said darkly with a smirk, warning his brother.

* * *

><p>Alex got out of her boyfriend's car with her older sister, walking into the house after kissing him, and closed the door behind them. When they walked upstairs, they heard noises coming from their brother's room and immediately approached it. "Jer?" Alex tilted her head to check the room.<p>

"No, it's me," Jenna popped from his room, checking on his drawer, interrogating things. "On hypocrite patrol."

"Uh, what are you doing?" Alex tilted her head to the side and confused. "And Jeremy hasn't come home yet?"

Jenna stood up, facing her nieces, straightly. "I've become my worse nightmare. The authority figure, who has to violate, a 15 year old's privacy... jackpot!" She held up a bong, "I see the hiding places haven't gotten anymore imaginative. And no, he hasn't come back yet."

"What brought this on?" Elena asked, walking in the room joining her aunt while Alex stayed outside leaning back on a wall. "Your ass-hat of a history teacher shamed me good yesterday."

"You got _Tannered_." Elena referred to what the kids called when getting schooled by Mr. Tanner as Alex chuckled quietly, walking inside and throwing herself at the couch, scanning the bong.

"Discover the impossible, Mrs. Sommers." Jenna quoted Mr. Tanner's sayings from the parent-teacher conference. "Got it, thanks. Like I didn't know I was screwing up."

"You're not screwing up, Aunt Jenna." Elena assured her while standing next to the couch where Alex sat.

"Yes I am." Jenna replied, she sounded firm. "And you know why? Because I'm not your mother. She made everything look so easy—and I was screwing this family up."

Alex looked up at her aunt in concern about what she just said, she sounded tired and felt terrible about her involvement with the family, "No, you're not. We're happy to have you, you're not screwing up anything." Alex said, repeating the point of Elena's last statement, "You are all we have. We love you."

"No, I can't do it. I'm going to say or do the wrong thing, and this kid is going to get worse, and it's all going to be my fault." Jenna grew more paranoid about Jeremy's drug problem.

"I mean, yeah, I know he's in a rough shape. We've been seeing worse, hearing worse about him, Aunt Jenna. But these, aren't your fault. This is just the fear talking." Elena informed her wisely and grabbed her hands supportively.

"You are a little scared, that's all. We all are; Alex and I are the same too." Elena looked down thinking for a second and then looked at her sister. "We'll see, I'm sure he'll be okay." Alex smiled weakly and hugged her aunt.

"Yeah.. And hey, I have to go do something," Elena stared at Jenna kindly after thinking for a while. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Jenna nodded slowly with a comfortably smile and rubbed Elena's hands. "Yeah." She answered tersely while looking at her niece who was standing up, getting ready to go somewhere.

"Where are you going?" Alex wondered.

Elena squinted her eyes and smiled widely. "Somewhere. You stay here, with Jenna."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes while walking out the room together with Jenna as Elena was making her way downstairs.

* * *

><p>After being left in the bar on her own, Caroline decided to return home as she was getting no more juicy information from this story, and she left the grill bar and walked toward her car and was still thinking about the stories, when she noticed someone standing far away from her. She suddenly stopped, and fear struck through her heart as she walking across the parking lot. She heard a loud crash that came from behind her, and fumbled her keys, accidentally dropping them in a jerk movement.<p>

She bent down to grab the keys and when she stood up, there was a black-haired guy standing in front of her which almost caused her to jump out of her skin, startled by his sudden presence.

"Sorry," He apologised with his casual arrogant smirk playing on his curvy perfect lips, catching Caroline's attention. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's fine," She chuckled while shaking her hair slightly to brush her long bangs out of sight and started to flirt. "I was hoping I'd see you again."

"I know." He replied, wiggling his eye brows and tilted his head slightly.

"Cocky much?"

"_Very_ much." He smirked playfully as she replied with an amused grin.

* * *

><p>Over the boarding house, Stefan answered to the doorbell that just rang, opening it slowly only to see that his dream girl was standing there with her white outer wear. "Hey." She greeted while rubbing her fingers.<p>

The moment was paused when he looked deeply into her eyes—still unbelieving that she was actually coming over. "Would you like to come in?" He offered moving to the side.

Elena jerked her thumb behind her while slowly turning around. "Comet's actually this way."

He blinked and smiled to himself, and started following her to the brick wall outside the house as he saw she was leaning against it while looking up to the jet black skies that she thought was amazingly beautiful.

"Sorry for barging in." She apologised with a low voice. "Especially after earlier."

"No, I'm glad you're here." Stefan replied calmly. "The way we left things, I didn't like it."

"So here's the thing; I got home tonight, planning on doing what I always do; write my diary like I have been since my mom gave me one when I was ten." She said, giving a little history flashback of her childhood. "So I get everything out, every feeling and it all goes in this little book I hide on the second shelf behind this really hideous ceramic mermaid, but then I realized I'd be writing things I should probably tell you."

"What would you write?" He asked.

"I would write; Dear diary, today I convinced myself it was okay to give up. Don't take risks, stick with the status quo. No drama, now is just not the time. But my reasons aren't reasons, they are excuses. All I'm doing is hiding from the truth, and the truth is that..." She paused, trying to find the right words to say. "I'm scared, Stefan. I'm scared that if I let myself be happy for even one moment that, the world's just going to come crashing down, and I, don't know if I can survive that."

"Do you wanna know what I would write?" He asked her as she nodded. "I would write... I met a girl. We talked, it was epic. Then the sun came up and reality set in, well this is reality, right here."

She formed a little smile as her heart finally won, she can't refuse the feelings that; whenever she was around him, she felt good, and it was right. The smile appeared on her lips was pure, it wasn't forced or based on anything that forced her. She wondered what people would say if she told her real feelings to everybody, would they think of her negatively?

Both of them giggled and began to walk more further around the house's terrace, talking and started to gain deeper knowledge of each other's life. And they ended up kissing. Elena had a nice night, but questions were still around her head, what if Alex will disagree with her decision of being in love with Stefan?

* * *

><p><strong>AN<strong> — Alex finally gets to meet our favorite Damon Salvatore! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Kudos to my amazing beta. Anyway, I'd love to hear from you so feel free to review, it'll be highly appreciated!

I also want to thank these amazing people so much for reviewing the first chapter: **_WhispersAndDream_**, **_RisingPhoenix89_**, **_Forever Fanfiction Lover22_**, and **Saffy2510**. And of course, for those who followed and favorite the story too. Thank you guys, you have no idea how everything you guys do make my day!

* * *

><p>If you want to see how I envision Alex, do visit<strong> theroseofgilbert<strong> dot **tumblr** dot **com** for pictures, gifs, bios and other stuffs related to the story. You can also send questions to the author, Alex and Damon since one of them will be online every weekend!

. . .

**Do you wanna see the outfits that Alex wear? Then you are more than just welcome to visit my polyvore! ****My username is **summerhuntress**. All outfits are there! Feel free to follow if you have an account.**

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><p><strong>~ To Be Continued ~<strong>


	3. Chapter 3: Friday Night Bites

**Chasing Perfection  
><strong>Season One  
><strong><span>Chapter 3<span>****:** Friday Night Bites

* * *

><p>"You <em>what<em>? You and him… what?" Alex asked as she stopped rolling on her sister's bed and turned to her sister who was adjusting her shirt. It was some kind of surprising yet a little annoying to know that her sister was going back to the boarding house last night, without even telling her at first. "That's the reason you left me here with Jenna? You're kidding right? Wait, I think I might have a headache."

Elena was ignoring her for a few seconds while looking at her through the full-length mirror. She knew her sister was surprised with the whole conversation about her feelings. "Yeah, I left to visit Stefan. And I'm not kidding... at least I'm not." She finally replied in a more calm tone.

"Whatever." Alex countered with an amused mocking smile and moved on from the bed, stood up and fixed her hair. "Let's go, we've got practice to do today."

"What practice?" Elena frowned while slowly grabbing her bag from the hanger before she paused, as if she remembered something in the back of her mind. "Oh my god... cheer leading, isn't it?"

"Yes, and please tell Caroline that I can't attend it because I jumped off of a cliff, and died!" Alex said simply yet reluctantly while walking outside her sister's bedroom with her bag slinging on her shoulder. She walked downstairs while Elena was still standing there, frozen, inside her room and scoffed at her sister trying to be funny.

Downstairs, Alex encountered her aunt who was standing near the counter and held her mug in her hands. She smiled bitterly knowing that Jeremy wasn't there again this morning, even the last time he was there, he only passed by and stole her coffee. Nothing fun. She recalled back to the days when her parents were still alive... she missed those moments to be honest and she wanted them back. Jeremy was still a good guy there, at least he wasn't as bad as now.

"Morning Alex," Jenna greeted casually while dropping her mug on the table and showed a supportive smile before she noticed Elena also coming downstairs. "I made breakfast, enjoy the sandwiches."

"Morning!" Alex grabbed a piece of sandwich from the table that her aunt had served and sat on the chair to eat the breakfast. "Did Jeremy left early again?"

"Yes, he left so early today," Jenna answered sarcastically as both sisters turned their gazes to her before she continued talking. "He didn't even eat his breakfast yet!"

Alex shrugged, eating her sandwich and looked over at her sister. They knew they were having the same thoughts about their brother who probably left to immediately meet his obsession at school. "Uh, okay... we are going to school now," Alex declared practically with her mouth full of her sandwich. Her sister chuckled and grabbed her sandwich from the plate and rushed outside. "Cheer leading practice today. Bye aunt Jenna!" Alex mumbled through her full mouth.

"Take care, love you!" Jenna shouted while watching them leaving until they were out of sight. Both sisters shouted back in reply: "Love you too!"

* * *

><p>"I'm not saying don't date the guy, Elena. I'm just saying take it slow." Bonnie smiled gently while giving her best friend a friendly reminder about her being close to that new guy who seemed to be hanging out with her a lot more often than he usually did.<p>

"Bonnie, you were the one who said to go for it!" Elena replied and laughed softly while getting prepared.

Bonnie simply replied. "Now I'm saying take it slow."

"Why the about-face? Okay, there is something you aren't saying, right? Come on. What is it? Bonnie? Alex?" Elena glared at both her sister and best friend who were looking unusually strange.

"Why are you looking at me? I don't have anything to say, Bonnie does." Alex said playfully with a chuckle while checking her nails and smiled at the thought of getting a new nail polish later.

"Well, it's stupid." Bonnie shook her head.

"Bonnie..." Elena pleaded. "Spit it out."

Bonnie sighed quietly, rolling her eyes and immediately responded to her best friend. "I accidentally touched Stefan. And I got a really bad feeling."

"Is that it?" Elena paused, giving her a 'what' look. "Bonnie?"

"It was bad,_bad_!" Bonnie affirmed, trying to convince her that she wouldn't like hearing this.

"You wouldn't want to know about it, 'Lena." Alex sighed.

"What is it? Is this the whole witch mojo thing again?" Elena asked sarcastically but trying to sound as calm as she could.

Bonnie made a quick reply. "You know what? I'm just concerned. This is me expressing concern about my best friend's new boyfriend."

"And I love you for it, I do. But I feel good. It's been a hard year, and I'm starting to kind of feel like things are getting back to normal again," Elena smiled patting Bonnie's shoulder and then looked at her sister slightly. "And you know what? Stefan is a big part of that."

Bonnie smiled softly and reminded herself that she couldn't force someone to do something especially when it was about heart and feelings. Beside her there was Alex who was mentally talking to herself inside her head about this conversation, because she was impressed at how Stefan had been there for her sister when she was in a very rough shape. So having a new brother-in-law won't hurt. Eventually, the three teenagers sat on the grass and waited for the school bell to ring while talking about other subjects until someone came to join them. "Morning Elena, Alex, Bonnie." Stefan smiled kindly, looking at the three.

"Morning, Stefan." Alex replied with an amused smile. "How was your night?"

Stefan answered, his eyes looking to the ground for a few seconds before it lifted back up to see his sister in law. "I had a good sleep. Thanks, Alex."

"Hey." Bonnie mumbled and stood up, ready to walk away while looking at her feet. "I gotta find Caroline, she is not answering her phone. So I'll see you guys later."

"Bonnie, wait..." Elena tried to reach for her hands but she was already too far away and she didn't even turn back to give her a chance to talk. She sighed loudly, wondering why her best friend was acting strange and different.

"She doesn't like me very much." Stefan stated calmly.

"She doesn't know you." Elena explained. "She's my best friend, she's just looking out for me, but when she does, she will love you."

From distance, Tyler and Matt were playing football randomly in the open grass field because it was their major sport and the match would be held soon. Matt saw his ex-girlfriend was talking to Stefan which ached his heart, and Tyler decided to make fun of him. "Look, there's Elena and her new boyfriend!" Tyler teased while putting up a mischievous smile, "And what are they doing? Oh... they are walking, walking, walking. Yep, right into the sunset."

"You're a dick." Matt hissed.

"While you just stand there like one of those little yard trolls," Tyler continued while smirking playfully and threw the ball toward Matt. "I'm just glad my girlfriend doesn't give a damn about him."

"Gnomes." Matt corrected him while catching the ball and watched his ex again with the new guy, it made his heart ache repeatedly whenever he saw them together especially when he saw her enjoying being around the new guy more.

"Here's what we're going to do." Elena started, turning to him while looking into his eyes, giggling. "Are you free tonight?"

Stefan paused when she asked, but then smiled while replying her question. "Yes."

"Perfect." Elena smiled and started to tell him about the plan she had. "Dinner. My house. Eight o'clock. You, me, Alex and Bonnie. You two will spend some quality time and she can see what a great guy you are. Mission accomplished."

"Hmm, dinner. Nice choice!" Alex teased, nudging her sister on the shoulder.

"Shut up, Alex." Elena rolled her eyes as the three of them started to laugh together in joy.

Matt was watching how happy they were. He used to be laughing a lot with Elena and Alex. They had fun together. But now, he was already replaced with the new guy. "Hey, what am I suppose to do, Ty? She made her choice." He said throwing the ball to Tyler.

"Let her know she made the wrong one." Tyler said and then caught the football, getting ready to do something which Matt believed was something evil, negative,wrong.

"What are you doing?" Matt demanded. "Ty, don't. Hey, Ty! Don't!"

Tyler ignored him and threw the ball as hard as he could toward Stefan who was unexpectedly turning around quicker than they thought to catch the ball, saving himself from the humiliation that Tyler was going to do to him and formed a smirk before throwing the ball back to them. This shocked both Matt and Tyler. Elena laughed—but her sister didn't. She was gasping knowing that it was her boyfriend who started this.

"Stefan, I'm so sorry for what he did. He is screwing up." Alex hissed. Her legs begun moving to approach her boyfriend, Tyler. Beside him, Matt was laughing softly and started to walk away from him. "Good luck dealing with Alex, dude!" He patted his back and left quickly.

"Hey, I'm sorr─"

"What was that for?" Alex asked trailing him off, standing there in front of him with a clearly not amused expression on her face because of what he did.

Tyler was startled. "Alex, you know how much it hurts for Matt to watch Stefan and Elena together. I'm just... I was just trying to—"

"To what? Humiliate him? Seriously, Ty? If I were Elena, I might kick your ass for being such a dick toward her boyfriend!" She protested bluntly but still kept her voice as low as possible.

"Look... okay, you know I'm still trying hard to keep myself down and you are the reason that I want to be a better person. I was once a dick and you know that too. I promise I will be better, Alex." Tyler smiled convincing her while pulling her closer to him, holding her waist and prevented her from walking away in any second.

"Then prove it." Alex said calmly. "Prove that─"

She was cut off when he kissed her lips, and she couldn't deny it, because she knew he meant every single word he said to her. She knew there was a part of him, a softer part, which was trying to show up. "List what else should I prove to you then baby."

* * *

><p>Alex walked down the hallway and went to her locker to put her books back. When she closed the door, she saw her boyfriend was already next to her with a very wide charming smile she couldn't handle. She chuckled seeing him just standing there and he even kept the smile plastering his face without doing anything else. "Okay..." She paused, "Sweet puppy look, that's not going work. I'm not giving you a kiss again!"<p>

He wasn't even moving yet, still smiling. Her eyes flickered to him and lose her control, immediately giving his lips a sweet kiss and he returned it softly. "It worked." He was amused.

"You left class early?" She asked while kissing him once again.

"You're changing topics." He suspiciously creasing his brows and smirked.

Alex rolled her eyes while walking away to find her sister as he followed behind, she found her sister walking out of the class with her new date. "Elena!" She shouted while waving at her before rushing toward her to give her a hug.

"Hey, Alex!" Elena giggled. "You should have seen Stefan because he got Mr. Tanner's smile wiped out. Stefan and Mr. Tanner debated about years and dates, history stuff. And he actually won."

"Wow. How did you do that? Most students find it boring, Stefan!" Alex wondered while walking alongside with them.

"Years and years of crossword puzzles." Stefan answered jokingly. "It's a loner thing. But I can memorize something easily once I study hard about it."

"That's amazing. It made my day." Elena laughed as Matt passed by without looking at them.

"Oh, he's pissed." Alex glared at her sister.

"Is it okay? You and him?" Stefan concerned.

"Yeah, it is okay. It will be." Elena sighed quietly before noticing Tyler rolling his eyes.

Later at the cheer leading field, Alex walked together with her sister seeing the other cheer leading girls were preparing themselves. They joined Bonnie who was sitting on the ground, she was suddenly surprised that the sisters finally joined the practice again. "Oh my god!" Bonnie jumped hugging the two sisters excitedly. "You're both here!"

"Yup!" Alex said popping the p. "Here we are!"

"Well... we can't be the sad girls forever who lost their parents. And we've decided to get things back to the way they were." Elena added with a small, bitter smile.

"That's good then, girls. You're moving on." Bonnie smiled happily.

"Mhm." Elena murmured, sitting down the ground near to Bonnie, joined by Alex who was sitting beside her. "Oh, and by the way, you are coming to dinner tonight."

"I am?" Bonnie laughed softly.

"Yep. You, me, Alex and Stefan." Elena stated smiling and stared at her bestfriend. "You have to give him a chance."

Bonnie sighed quietly while looking away. "Tonight's no good."

Alex made a face while giving Bonnie a look, it was like she tried to change the subjects, she didn't seem to be liking Stefan lately. "Have you seen Caroline? I texted her like a hundred times."

"Nope, she didn't tell me anything, so I haven't heard of her since yesterday." Alex simply said holding her hands up.

"Don't change the subject, Bonnie Bennett! You too, Alexandra!" Elena commanded. "Bonnie, you're going to be there, that's it."

"Fine, I'll go." Bonnie frowned, defeated.

At the football field, Stefan encountered Mr. Tanner and discussed about joining the team if it was possible. "Varsity trials were last spring, Mr. Salvatore." Mr. Tanner informed.

"I wasn't here then, sir." Stefan told.

"And you're not here now as far as I'm concerned." The teacher replied sarcastically or curtly.

"Mr. Tanner, I realize that you and I didn't get off to the best start." Stefan replied. "And I want to apologize for that, I've played football before, wide receiver, mostly, and I'm pretty good."

"Well, I won't be asking you who won the super bowl in '71." He joked in sarcasm.

"71 was..." He paused when he received a deathly look from his teacher. "Sorry, I, uh, I understand that, sir."

"Just to see you get knocked on your ass. Go borrow some gear." He stated, jerked his head towards the changing room and ordered Stefan who started walking away. "Go! Before I change my mind."

"Let's run it again!" Mr. Tanner yelled.

"First, _my girlfriend_. Now, _my team_?" Matt sighed frustratedly at the thought that Stefan slowly started to take everything from him little by little.

Tyler turned to him and gave him a disbelief look and then put his helmet back on. "Dude, this is an opportunity. Football is a contact sport! Sometimes people get hurt."

Back over the cheer leading field, where most of cheerleaders were warming up, the three BFFs were still concerned about their blonde best friend who hadn't arrived yet, and she couldn't be contacted. "Seriously, where is Caroline?" Bonnie asked, worry starting to creep into her voice.

"I don't know." Elena shrugged lightly looking at Alex. "It's not like her."

"Let's just try to call her again. Maybe this time she will pick up." Alex suggested.

"Yeah, I'll try again." Bonnie nodded while grabbing her phone to dial Caroline's number quickly, hoping that this time she would really answer the call. Suddenly, a loud burst of music came behind them; it gradually got louder. Elena turned around and noticed it was Caroline.

"Uh…" She pointed to the car as both Bonnie and Alex turned around seeing the car stopped.

"Oh my god..." Bonnie gasped.

Alex blinked a few times while watching Caroline leaning over her seat to give Damon a passionate kiss before she got out of the car. Strange... she felt something heavy hit her heart. She immediately shook her head, trying to ignore every thought she had and hoped no one noticed her expressions. However, Damon did. He knew about her heart pounding fast and saw her expressions back there.

"That must be the mystery guy from the grill..." Bonnie stated while still busy watching.

"That's not a mystery guy..." Alex replied, breathless, through clenched teeth. "That's actually Damon Salvatore."

"Salvatore? As in Stefan?" Bonnie repeated in hushed voice referring to Stefan when Elena nodded lightly, standing up to see Caroline cockily walking over them.

"I got the other brother," she teased looking straight toward Elena. "Hope you don't mind!" She said again before turning to the other girls. "Sorry, I'm late girls. I was busy!"

Damon wiggled his eyebrows before smirking while watching Alex and decided to stay a little while, but he was pretending like he was watching Caroline right now. Alex saw him, she breathed out and slowly walking away from the field, leaving the other cheerleaders including her sister and friends. Caroline watched her walking away and rolled her eyes.

"What's with her?" Bonnie whispered to Elena pointing at Caroline, and then a moment later pointing at Alex who was walking away. "And her."

"I don't know." Elena replied. "Alex is acting really strange..."

Caroline hit the play button as the song started, everyone was moving perfectly together along to the song, except Elena who was lost in her deep thoughts. "Elena, sweetie." Caroline caught her attention. "Why don't you just observe today?"

Stopping, Elena moved backwards to the football field looking over to the guys playing in the field and she was surprised when she saw Stefan in his football gear, playing in the team just like what Elena told him to. He was really good at Football, being able to get past Tyler, catching all the balls that were thrown at him, and Mr. Tanner had to admit that he was quite impressed. Elena smiled too, impressed by him.

* * *

><p>As soon as Stefan returned home that evening, he had a quick shower and made sure to look good as he was going to the Gilbert's tonight. While pulling his shirt, he walked back into the room when he saw a pair of feet at his desk, causing him to start feeling irritated of the figure's presence. "How was the try out?" There was a voice of a familiar person behind him. It was his older brother, Damon, and he was grabbing Stefan's journal.<p>

"Did you make the team? Very Emerson, the way you reveal your soul with so many… adjectives." Damon teased, as Stefan ripped his journal out of his hands.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan asked strictly.

Damon paused, sitting on the chair in the room. "I've come to apologize. I've been doing some thinking, some soul searching, and I want us to start over. We need to put the past behind us, you're my little brother and if you want to live a normal, happy human life, then I want that for you."

"Maybe I could do it, too. That I can learn to be a non-living person?" He stood up, walking around the desk and smiled before it cracked into a smirk and then walked away slowly. "Maybe there's hope for both of us."

"You know it doesn't have to be this way, Damon." Stefan told him.

"Of course it doesn't." Damon replied, slightly rolling his eyes. "I saw Alex today, BTW. That means by the way." He explained with a small teasing chuckle. "She was at the cheerleading practice with her sister. They were cute in their short shorts. Just… simmer down. I didn't even go near them, because I've got my own cheerleader now. And oh, Alex also looked so blue. Why? Because I'm dating Caroline and not her? That's unfortunate. Where's her boyfriend? He should have looked after her that moment."

"What is this game again, Damon? Are you playing around with Caroline and Alex?" Stefan concerned shaking his head lightly. "Don't, Damon. Leave them be, leave Alex if you're just going to hurt her, she deserves to be with Tyler more than being with you."

"Oh yeah? That's wise of you." He grinned. "She went somewhere after she saw me. Seems like someone is disappointed, huh? Oops. I felt very connected to her. Who knows why?" He shrugged lightly while started to walk away from the room. "Oh, that reminds me, I gotta run. I have a date. Sweaty palms. Wish me luck."

At the Gilberts house, Elena was serving the salad bowls onto the table while listening to Bonnie talking to Alex about random stuff and preparing for dinner before Stefan came.

"You explain it. Last night, I'm watching nine-o, a commercial breaks come on and I'm like, I bet it's that phone commercial. And it was right." Bonnie stated.

"Oh, come on, that commercial's on a constant loop." Elena rolled her eyes.

"Well, how about this? Today I'm obsessed with numbers. 3 numbers. I keep seeing 8, 14, and 22. How weird is that?" She admitted.

"Maybe we should play the lottery." Elena said, setting the pie. "Have you talked to your Grams?"

"She's just gonna say it's because I'm a witch. I don't want to be a witch. Do you want to be a witch?" Bonnie asked.

Elena breathed as she poured the to-go food into a bowl. "No. I don't want to be a witch."

"And, putting it in a nice bowl isn't fooling anybody." Bonnie winked.

Alex was quiet at the moment, but Bonnie noticed and shook her shoulder. "Alex? Alex!" She called.

"Hm?" Alex blinked in a sudden.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, started to wonder what was happening lately to her. "Are you daydreaming?"

"No. I was just... you know. Caroline has been acting weird lately and I was wondering if she will be okay." She lied, making up a cover up story to tell them. She was actually thinking about Damon. She felt a very strange connection she couldn't explain about him.

"That's okay, I'm sure she's okay. Now, serving spoons, where are the serving spoons?" Elena tried to think hard, looking and walking around the kitchen.

"Middle drawer on your left." Bonnie pointed.

Elena opened the middle drawer, revealing wooden serving spoons in there. "Okay, so you've been in this kitchen like a thousand times."

"No, it was just you being a completely forgetful old lady." Alex teased and smirked while eating a piece of strawberry from the fridge before her sister glared at her.

When they were talking, the doorbell suddenly rang. It made Elena, Alex and Bonnie turn their gazes to the door before Elena decided to open it. "Okay, he's here. Don't be nervous, just be your normal, loving self." Elena stated calmly.

"Here we go." Alex laughed giving Bonnie a look as she looked for candles inside the drawer while Elena was welcoming Stefan in.

The four teens sat on the chairs having dinner together in an awkward silence as Elena looked at Alex and Bonnie, urging them to say something. "So, uh, Stefan, you're joining the football team, huh? I heard you're playing good." Alex gave Stefan a look as she grinned.

"Yeah. Did your boyfriend mention anything else about me?" Stefan nodded smiling to her. "Anyway, Damon mentioned you, he said he saw you today."

Alex suddenly trailed off when he spoke about Damon, but she immediately formed a fake smile on her lips and then sent it to the other three teens. "Tyler didn't say anything actually. And, yep, I saw him but I was feeling, you know, dizzy... so I ran into class to get some rest ."

"That's understandable, but I should warn you… don't get involved with him. It's for your own safety, Alex." Stefan said giving a warning to his younger sister-in-law about his brother.

Alex narrowed her eyes, she wondered why he disliked his brother that much. First, he didn't mention anything about having a brother. Now, he told her not to get involved with him. Why? She mused in her head, a small bitter smile appeared on her lips. However, she might have to do what he said, just in case.

"Did Tanner give you a hard time today?" Elena asked Stefan changing the subject that seemed to confuse her little sister.

"Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right." Stefan said calmly with a light shrug looking at Elena.

"Bonnie, Alex you should have seen Stefan today. Tyler threw a ball right at him and-" Elena tried to inform them but she was trailed off when Bonnie cut her off.

"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie said interrupting her.

Alex grinned. "I didn't know about that, but it must have been cool, Stefan."

Elena literally grinned to Bonnie and gave her a look. "Why don't you tell Stefan about your family, Bonnie?"

"Divorced, no mom, live with my dad." Bonnie replied quickly with something that she thought was the main point. Alex chuckled softly, knowing how nervous Bonnie was after Elena gave her a sudden death glare, and now she was saying something else entierly.

"No, Bon. About the witches." Elena said shaking her head. "Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches, it's really cool."

"Cool isn't the word I'd use."

"Well, it's certainly interesting." Stefan spoke, making the situation a little bit comfortable. "I'm not too versed, but I do know that there was a group of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800s."

"My family came by way of Salem." Bonnie informed.

"Really?" Stefan asked in disbelief. "Salem witches?"

"Yeah." Bonnie shrugged slowly while giving the sisters a look, but Alex didn't seem to notice as she was busy with her food, although she listened to everything.

"I would say that's pretty cool." Stefan said, looking at Elena and Alex, and then Bonnie.

"Really? Why?" Bonnie questioned, asking for the reason of why he thought so.

"Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism. And nonconformity." He told her, causing Bonnie to agree with the statement, and Elena thought her plan went well. "Yeah, they are."

The doorbell rang once more, and Alex's eyes flickered to her sister. "I'll open the door." Alex said with her mouth still full of the dinner meal, standing up and walking to the door before opening it slowly.

"Surprise!" Caroline exclaimed standing there holding the dessert in her hands, "Bonnie said you were making dinner, so we brought dessert."

"Oh..." Alex was surprised but still let her in while she turned around watching Caroline, but was even more surprised to see Damon at the door step, leaning on the frame of the door. "Hope you don't mind." Damon formed a playful smirk.

Stefan slowly walked toward the door, surprised to see his brother standing there looking cocky as always. He was sure that he wanted to be invited in. "What are you doing here?" He asked, getting annoyed, his eyes occasionally flickering to Alex who was nervously rubbing her arm.

"Waiting for Elena or Alex to invite me in." Damon replied simply like nothing ever happened between all of them.

"Yeah, sure come-" Elena trailed off when Stefan stopped her. "No, no. He can't stay."

Alex immediately gave Stefan a confused look. He was trying to stop his brother from coming in, but why did he have to be invited in?

"Come on, little brother. I'm just visiting."

"What about Alex? You got her upset today." Stefan said strictly to his older brother while looking defensively at him.

Caroline laughed in a mocking manner, defending Damon. "Seriously, Stefan, she is with Tyler. Besides-"

"Shh." Damon cut her off. "Don't say anything."

"Okay, just get in here." Caroline giggled while pointing at him to come in.

"Elena?" Damon leaned over to look at Elena with a smile. "I want to apologize from Alex by the way."

"We're just finishing up." Stefan spat, knowing if he was invited in, he could access the house whenever he wanted to, and it would be extremely dangerous.

"Alright, come in." Elena said inviting him in after a moment of thought.

Damon smiled while walking through the door, stepping over the boundary line that would usually not allow him to get into the house while looking around. "You have a very beautiful home." He commented.

"Thank you. Your house is greater." Elena replied smiling leading everyone to the living room which was a better place to have chats. "Right Alex?"

"Yeah." Alex replied nodding at her sister.

"I can't believe that Mr. Tanner let you on the team!" Caroline practically gushed.

Alex was quietly sitting across their couches next to her psychic friend while trying to stop herself from looking into the bright, icy-blue eyes of Damon Salvatore that were alsostaring at her since the beginning. "Tyler must be seething... but good for you! Go for it." Caroline smiled encouraging Stefan.

Her statement caught Alex's attention for the moment, but she decided not to say anything. Damon spoke, turning slightly to his brother. "That's what I always tell him, you have to engage. You can't just sit there and wait for life to come to you. You have to go get it."

"Yeah, but Elena wasn't so lucky today." Caroline added with a fake pout. "It's only because you missed summer camp, God, I don't know how you're ever going to learn the routines."

Alex suddenly scoffed in sarcasm and irritated smile. "Bonnie will work with her, calm down. It's as if you're winning her popularity now, nope! Sorry. You still have to try harder."

"Yeah. I'll work with Elena... and she'll get it." Bonnie replied defending Alex and especially Elena.

"Oh. Alex! I'll take that as a challenge. But hey, you have got me started on you right now," Caroline rolled her eyes and began mocking her. "Seriously? A cheerleader walking off skipping practice, so unprofessional, hm? I think I should put you in the back."

"You don't seem like the cheerleader type, Alex." Damon commented.

"It's only because her parents died. Yeah, I mean, she's just totally going through a blah phase, she used to be way more fun. And I say that with complete sensitivity." Caroline replied sarcastically defending herself. She didn't even care how the others glared deadly at her.

"I'm sorry, Alex, I know what it's like to lose someone you loved, especially family members. In fact, Stefan and I have watched almost every single person we've cared about die." Damon pipped up.

"We don't need to get into that right now, Damon. Don't screw everything up." Stefan interrupted his older brother firmly.

"You know what, you're right, Stef, I'm sorry. You know the last thing I want to do was to bring them up. Mmm." Damon said looking at his brother teasingly and flickered to Alex's hands which was collecting the mugs.

After collecting the mugs, Alex took them to the kitchen and started cleaning them leaving the others talking in the living room. She leaned against the counter, thinking about cheerleading and her parents. She promised herself to feel no more pain, she should really move on from her parents' death. "I'm sorry," said a sudden voice behind her.

"Oh!" Alex gasped closing her eyes and put her palm on her heart for a moment after turning around to see Damon behind her. "Oh god. Damon. You scared me!"

She opened her eyes while chuckling nervously when she saw him standing only a few inches away from her with a sexy smirk. And when she started to lean against the counter behind her, she missed it and was about to fall onto the ground but he suddenly caught her in his arms. "T- Thank you," her expression was flat but her lips slowly formed a smile toward him.

Her heart was beating very fast, she had no idea if it was because she fell or if it was because him. Honestly she was impressed because of what he did.

"No need." He smirked, helping her to stand up while watching her grabbing another mug from the counter but her eyes were still glued on him, causing the mug to slip out of her hand and fall towards the ground, lucky he caught it so fast that she didn't even notice. "Nice... catch." She giggled and grabbed the mug from his hands.

"I like you." Damon smiled at her while watching her cleaning the rest of the dishes. "You know how to laugh, and you make me smile, and I haven't done that in a very long time. There was a special someone who used to make me smile like you do."

"Do you mean... Katherine?" Alex asked.

"No. It's her younger sister. Serena, she was my ex-girlfriend. But I love to call her Serene more than her real name." Damon informed her, answering the question she asked.

"What happened?" Alex frowned in concern.

"She's dead." He murmured mournfully. "In a fire. Tragic fire."

Alex almost gasped. "Recently?"

"It seems like it was yesterday." He replied.

"What was she like?" Alex asked referring to his ex-girlfriend he just told her about.

"She was beautiful, a lot like you in that department." He teased while raising his eyebrows. "She was also very complicated and selfish and at times not very kind, but very sexy and seductive."

Alex nodded slowly and began to put the mugs into the cupboards, placing it carefully. "So, how long did you date?"

"It's too long." Damon told her with a small chuckle and began to help her folding the table clothes. "If I were you, I'd quit cheerleading." He spoke randomly.

"Why do you say that?" She wondered.

"Oh, I saw you today. You were... miserable." He replied knowingly, getting her attention. "You saw that?"

"Am I wrong?"

"Well, I used to love it." She confessed to him. "It was fun, but things are different this year, everything that used to matter, doesn't anymore."

"So, don't let it. Quit. Move on, problem solved, ta-da." He grinned after speaking bluntly towards her.

"Hm. Some things could matter again." She argued optimistically with her brows slightly creased.

"Maybe." He shrugged lightly. "But, honestly, it seems a little unrealistic to me."

"I'm sorry about Serene..." She suddenly apologized, changing the subjects. "I know how it feels to lose your loved ones."

Damon locked his eyes with her deep adorable light brown ones, he had lost himself there, looking at the beautiful familiar face of his former lover. But he almost jumped when he heard a voice behind him. "Need some help?" Elena offered, walking slowly to joining them with Bonnie behind her.

Damon smiled. "Sure. Why not?"

Back in the living room, Caroline was talking to Stefan on the couch. "Matt tries, but he's just having a really hard time. You have to understand that they were each other's first. You know, like, from the sandbox."

"Well," He nodded while still concerned what's with the scarf she was wearing. "That's a really nice scarf, anyway."

"Thank you, it's new." She smiled at the compliment he gave.

"Can I, uh, see it? I mean, would you mind taking it off?" Stefan began to ask questions about it, suspiciously.

"Oh, I can't." She replied shaking her head lightly.

"Why not?" Stefan asked once again. "Are you okay?"

She paused trying to think what would be best as an answer because she was told by her boyfriend not to tell anyone. When she got the idea to answer, she immediately put on a weird grin. "All I know is that, I can't take it off."

Suddenly, Damon walked into the room, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Caroline, and glared at Stefan knowing he had questioned her. "What are you two kids talking about?"

"I was just complimenting her scarf. It's nice." Stefan said giving his brother a deep death glare.

Damon smirked. "I'm thinking to buy a special one for Alex. Do you want me to buy one for your girlfriend too?" He grinned and then turned to his fake girlfriend. "Hey, you know. Elena, Bonnie and Alex are finishing up the dishes, why don't you go see if you can help?"

Caroline laughed in disbelief. "Does it look like I do dishes?"

"For me?" Damon asked, growing impatient.

She thought hard about it, and decided to refuse his order simply and practically. "Hmm, I don't think so."

Damon's grin dropped as he immediately caught her eyes locked with his—and did his compulsion tricks. "Go see if Alex needs help in the kitchen."

"You know what, I'm going to go see if Alex needs some help in the kitchen." Caroline stood up, and walked away from the room to join her best friends. Damon grinned again, "Great."

"They are people, Damon. She's not a puppet. She doesn't exist for your amusement, for you to feed on whenever you want to." Stefan growled impatiently—being irritated about what his brother had done ever since his arrival.

"Sure, she does." Damon shrugged acting innocently. "They all do. They are, whenever I want them to be. They're mine for the taking."

"Alright, you've had your fun." Stefan said strictly, growing impatient, but he tried to keep it down. "You've used Caroline, got to meet Elena and entered her house, and lastly, you flirted with Alex. Now it's time for you to go."

"That's not a problem. Because... I have been invited in and I'll come back tomorrow night and the following nights. And I'll do with _my_ little Alex whatever I want to do. Because that is what's normal to me." Damon gave a smirk, showing how he thought he was winning and threatened his brother all at the same time.

* * *

><p>It was the next day. Alex was standing in the middle of the crowd at the Timberwolves football game. She noticed Stefan was holding Tyler back from fighting with Jeremy. She quickened her pace and approached them and pushed Jeremy away from Stefan but Jeremy accidentally cut the vampire's hand. "Hey! What the hell, Jer? Tyler? Again?!" Alex retorted while pushing her twin brother one more time by his firm chest, avoiding him to get into another fight with Tyler.<p>

"Ty, please just go. I'll deal with my brother. Matt, take Ty out of here!" Alex commanded while pushing Jeremy farther away and saw Matt pushing Tyler away from the area, avoiding another fight.

"What is it now? See, your head is bleeding!" Alex was now between worried and upset, she hated the fact that she couldn't pick a side between her brother and her boyfriend.

"He was being a dick, in front of Vicki when she wanted to apologize. And really, I'm fine!" He growled sarcastically and she could smell alcohol coming off his breath.

"Yeah, you smell fine. Damn dude! You're a real stoner. Don't expect me to be nice anymore after this!" Alex said strictly, more like a warning, trying to get his attention knowing he wouldn't stop before she did something.

"Hey... okay! Fine! I'm sorry. Please, Alex." He pleaded, and sounded terrified about her warning.

Alex sighed loudly while walking away to encounter her sister and Stefan. "I don't know, just think about it. Let's see if I change my mind."

"You okay?" Alex asked Stefan in rush, seeing a great cut and blood on his hand. "Oh god, your hand..."

"Oh my god, is it okay?" Elena said, concerned.

Stefan immediately covered his palm into a fist and stated it was all fine but when Elena tried opening his hand, there was nothing there. Only a long red line. "But I saw it..." Elena was cut off.

"Jeremy missed, it's not my blood. See? I'm fine."

"I saw it, it's not possible that I'm having issues with my eye sight!" Alex spat, holding his hand but there was no clue. He smiled to her, "I'm fine, Alex, thank you for your concern. It's almost kick-off time, all right? So, I'll, uh, I'll see you two after the game."

Stefan gave a smile to both sisters as he excused himself to get back to the game, Elena and Alex only nodded as the two changed subjects. "Look. Stefan gave this to me." Elenasaid as she reached for a beautiful necklace which was around her neck.

"Cute." Alex teased. "I'm happy for you."

Elena smiled shyly while looking down to the ground, trying not to show her flushed cheeks. "Am I making the wrong decision by being with him? I mean... letting him into our life, is that wrong?"

"If you think it's right, then it is. Don't let anything else push you down. If you're happier with him, then you should be very happy to have him around you now!" Alex commented but smiled in the end, giving her sister some support because she was finally, romantically involved with a new someone because she deserved to be happy too.

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><p>Later, still at the football game, Alex went to the car to grab her bag inside and turned around once she got the bag and was surprised to see Damon standing behind her. "You scared me!" She complained, "What are you doing here, Damon?"<p>

"I'm hiding from Caroline." He whispered.

"And why is that?" Alex frowned, whispering back in response.

"I need a break." He said, confessing about his annoyance about the blonde young woman to Alex. "She talks more than I can listen."

"That could be a sign." She replied shrugging still looking at him.

"Well, she's awfully young."

"Not much younger than you." She countered jokingly.

"I don't see it going anywhere in the bigger picture, I think she'd drive me crazy." Damon scoffed more in a mocking manner.

"Caroline does have some really annoying traits, but we've been friends since I entered school and that does mean something to me." She answered his scoff casually with some wise words for him.

"Very loyal. And it's duly noted." He smiled. "I'm sorry if I make you uncomfortable. That's not my actual intention."

"Yes, it is," Alex argued wisely. "Otherwise, you wouldn't put an alternate meaning behind everything you say."

"You're right." He admitted, but there was a small and not noticeable seductive smirk playing on his lips. "I do have other intentions, but so do you."

"Uh, really?" She was unconvinced.

"I see 'em." He nodded confidently. "You want me."

"Excuse me?" Alex tilted her head to the side, confused about what he was talking about.

"I get to you, you find yourself drawn to me." He formed a seductive smirk, compelling her while leaning closer to her face. "You think about me when you don't want to think about me, I bet you even dream about me. And right now, you want to _kiss_ me."

She gasped and slapped him hard across the cheek, glaring at him in aghast and disgust. "Wh─ what the hell, Damon!? I don't know what game you're playing, but I don't want to be a part of it. I'm not Caroline who you can use as a back-up while you sneak around to flirt with other girls. And I don't know what happened in the past, but let's get one thing straight that I'm sure as hell I'm not Caroline or your ex girlfriend, Serene!" She scowled before walking away from him, leaving him pissed off.

Later, Matt was trying to talk with the someone who had stolen his everything, almost everything, but he can never be like his friend who handled things over emotionally. He was at least nicer that that. He wouldn't pick a fight. "You gonna be able to play?" Matt asked nicely.

"Oh, yeah. I'm good," Stefan answered.

"What you did back there... you had Jeremy's back." Matt started.

"Ah, he's a messed-up kid." Stefan shrugged lightly while turning to him, calmly. "Somebody's gotta look out for him."

"I know." Matt nodded and started to admit to the Salvatore guy. "This week at practice, I was a dick. And don't mind about Tyler, he is just being a good friend of mine."

Stefan smiled casually. "Had your reasons."

"No excuse." He reached his hand and shook Stefan's hand before walking away. "Good luck tonight, we're lucky to have you."

After he walked away, someone suddenly clapped his hands behind him, applauding him, while leaning against a wall in the dark shadows. Stefan turned around and already recognized that it was his brother.

"Isn't that nice? Stefan joins the team, makes a friend. It's all so rah, rah, go team, yeah!" He joked sarcastically—it was obvious that Damon was the one who spoke.

"Not tonight. I'm done with you." Stefan told him.

He turned to walk away but then his brother appeared in front of him in all of sudden with an arrogant smirk. "Nice trick with Alex. Let me guess, vervain bracelet? I have to admit, I was a bit surprised. You're good. It's been a while since anyone could resist my compulsion." He smirked. "Where'd you get it?"

"What? Her bracelet?" Stefan pointed out and scoffed at his older brother who was just failed compelling someone for the first time, compelling someone he really desired. "Ididn't give it to her. When we met, her bracelet was already there."

"Well, guess I could just seduce her the old-fashioned way. Or I could just... eat her." He shrugged lightly.

"No, you're not going to hurt her, Damon." Stefan shook his head slowly.

"No?" Damon raised his eye brows and glared.

"Because deep down inside, there is a part of you that feels for her. I was worried that you had no humanity left inside of you, that you may have actually become the monster you're pretending to be." He told Damon firmly.

"Who's pretending?" Damon asked mocking his brother.

"Then kill me." Stefan gave him the opportunity.

"Well, I'm... I'm tempted." He nodded.

"No, you're not, you've had lifetimes to do it, and yet, here I am. I'm still alive and there you are, you're still haunting me, after 145 years. Katherine is dead, so is Serene. And you hate me because you loved her, and you torture me because you still do. And that, my brother, is your humanity." Stefan said faking a smile.

"Salvatore! What the hell?" Mr. Tanner walked over joining them. "We've got a game to play."

"If that's my humanity, then what's this?" Damon asked rushing towards Mr. Tanner quickly, growling into his neck, drinking him dry until he fell onto his knees, being permanently dead as Damon turned back to his brother, blood was dripping down his chin and he looked like a real monster.

"No!"

"Anyone, anything, any place. Alex is probably going to be next, do your best looking after her." Damon smirked before leaving in a blur.

Meanwhile, Matt was tying his shoes while Tyler was still looking inside his locker and thought of something to say to him. "Tanner's, M.I.A. I think he had a little bit too much beer."

"Don't talk to me right now, alright? I'm pissed at you." Matt snapped.

"What's your problem?" Tyler asked cluelessly.

"What's my... You're my problem! Alright? You're a bully, a freakin' 12-year-old bully, man, and I'm sick of it."

"Dude." Tyler shook his head defensively.

"I mean what was that about tonight? What's beating up the new guy going to prove?" Matt asked, being extremely pissed. "Or screwing with my sister and my girlfriend's sister at the same time or pummelling my girlfriend's kid brother?"

"Girlfriend?" Tyler asked sarcastically. "Look, I don't know how to tell you this, but she dumped your ass for that new guy."

Matt was impatient, shoving him against the lockers. He was shocked, "Are you for real?! You want to hit me? I'm on your team!"

"This was over the line. Even for you." Matt said disappointed as he walked away looking for his coach, and when he got outside, he looked around when he saw a dead body laying lifelessly on the ground. When he got closer, he recognized it was Mr. Tanner, and he noticed a large bite on his neck like Vicki's. "Somebody help!" He rushed back in yelling to get help from whoever.

The ambulance came, taking Mr. Tanner's body as the police was checking on the area where he was found dead and they would obviously make sure this was an animal attack, like always. Bonnie was there watching, and then suddenly she noticed the three numbers she had been writing on her note pad this morning. She flickered to the license plate, it was BLDG 8, and the immatricualtion's car was FHT 14, and on the ground she spotted the number 22. Was she really a witch? Or was this just a coincidence? She started to feel incredibly terrified.

* * *

><p>Alex walked into the house, exhausted, seeing her aunt sitting alone in the dining room before she went upstairs to her room. She thought she could grab a drink while asking about her aunt's condition. "Hey aunt Jenna," Alex said walking over to the kitchen and grabbed a drink.<p>

"Welcome back home, Alex." Jenna smiled gently to her.

Alex's eyes flickered down to her, scanning if she was fine there alone, wondering if she needed company. "Hey... are you okay?"

"Yeah. Still thinking about your brother."

Alex realized how much effort her aunt put into making the family better, she even thought about Jeremy who was troubled, she was a very good aunt and guardian of them. It was fairly sad for Alex to know she had to take care of the three of them alone. She knew it was hard. She suddenly came toward Jenna and gave her a hug. "It's okay, aunt Jenna. He will be okay. Don't worry... go to sleep, okay? Don't think about something too much or else you'll get sick."

Jenna nodded and hugged her back. "I will, once your sister returns. Thank you, Alex."

"No worries." Alex breathed out while turning to the staircase but paused on her way for a while. "Mr. Tanner was found dead tonight. I wonder why... everything got worse after mom and dad died."

"Really? I'm sorry for him. Anyway, Lex, you should head to sleep and stop thinking too much about things as well. You're still young and you can't be like me," Jenna said chuckling softly while placing her chin on her hand watching her niece slowly walk upstairs.

"Yeah…. Okay, night auntie. I love you." She smiled while walking upstairs and headed to the room immediately. Jenna was smiling, it has been long since she called her with the word 'auntie' and she was happy with that nick name. It made her smile the whole night.

Late night, Damon stood near the corner watching Alex very peacefully on her bed. She looked just like Serene and if he had to admit... she looked amazing and she was like a nicer version of his ex. Damon smiled at himself as he caressed her flawless soft face gently, his urge of touching every inch of her body was boiling inside him, but he tried resisting every single one of them for now.

Alex suddenly awoke from her sleep and turned the light on since she felt someone was there inside her room and she could feel something touching her cheek, but there was no one. It must have been a dream. She yawned while turning the lamp off again, grabbing her pillow to hug it and to fall back to sleep.

"Good night, Alexandra Rosette Gilbert." Damon whispered while still watching her from the shadowed place in her room, which made it safer to watch her quietly all night long.

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><p><strong>AN<strong> — Hey lovelies! I hope you'll like the third chapter despite the late update. I would like to thank everyone who favorite, followed and reviewed. It means a lot to me! I really appreciate every single review even if it's just "update soon!" to the longest review you all gave for this story. Like I said in the opening notes at chapter one, this story has modifications and add-ins, so make sure _not_ to skip any of the chapter contents (especially later when we're onto season two, there would be more modifications therein).

Shout-out to **fantasy.92**, **Margarita123**, **Nellychick123**, **Forever Fanfiction Lover22**, **Guest**, **Damon Secret Wife** and **A** for reviewing the recent chapters. I hope I will see your names again in the reviews about which part you like and don't like, it will help me to improve!

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><p>Do visit <strong>theroseofgilbert<strong> . **tumblr** . **com** for picture sets, gifs, bios, and other stuff from the story. I've also posted pictures and gifs of younger Alex & Jeremy, so if you want to see them, feel free to check out the tumblr site. **P.S**, Alex is online on the tumblog today until tomorrow. Be sure to send questions today if you want direct answers from her!

. . .

**Do you wanna see the outfits that Alex wear? Then you are more than just welcome to visit my polyvore! ****My username is **summerhuntress**. All outfits are there! Feel free to follow if you have an account.**

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><p><strong>~ To Be Continued ~<strong>


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